Sunday morning we were in week two of our six week series called HABITS, part of our annual teaching focus on spiritual habits that are a vital part of the Christian life.  This year we’re using the series ‘Building Wise Habits’ from the Live Curriculum, a great four year resource we’ve been using this year in our small groups and some Sunday mornings.  Last week we took a look at the H in HABITS, ‘Hang time with God.’  It was a closer look at the importance of spending time with God on a regular basis.  Chris Z taught the high school group, Melissa M taught the middle school group.

This week we continued our small group series on developing some good HABITS for spiritual growth. Our topic this time was on the “A” from that acronym: Accountable Friendships. We all need friends who know our weaknesses and love us anyway and are able to hold us to our commitments. These are the friends who will come up to us when they see us making choices that might endanger or derail us spiritually.

Using Psalm 133 this week, we encouraged our students to pursue accountable friendships because of the rewards of living together in harmony. We also reminded our teenagers that Jesus himself said people would recognize Christians because of the love they have for each other.

In the next few days, look for an opportunity to have a spiritual conversation with your child. Here are some possible questions to fuel that dialogue:

• Do you currently have a friend who holds you accountable? What are some benefits from that friendship?
• Are there any areas of your life that you would want me to hold you accountable?
• Are there areas of my life that you see where I could be growing or improving?

Thanks for your love for your teenager. Have an awesome week!