for everything there is a season

Tomorrow marks the last day that the class of 2009 will be in the junior Sunday School department at my church. I have been privileged to teach this group of girls for the past two years on Sunday mornings, and I am looking forward to promoting with them to the senior department after our Student Ministry's Labor Day Retreat. 

But at the moment, I am reflecting on the past year and thinking about the spiritual growth that I have witnessed in the lives of these girls and guys during their junior year. These students have demonstrated that they are learning to make wise choices that honor God in every area of their lives - choices about their attitudes, their words, and their actions - and they are learning from their mistakes. They are also learning that sometimes the most difficult choices are not between good and bad but between better and best. 

Three of these outstanding students made difficult decisions at the end of their junior year to give up extracurricular activities that they had thoroughly enjoyed and excelled in so that they could free up time to be even more involved in the Student Ministry during their senior year. There was nothing inherently wrong with any of these activities, but they were all very time-consuming and had caused these students to miss out on events at church. These students are committed to being leaders within the youth group and realize that you can't lead well if you're not there. I have no doubt that they will not regret their decisions, and our youth group will be stronger because of their commitment to lead well.

"For everything there is a season," the author of Ecclesiastes wrote, "a time for every activity under heaven." This is the seniors' season to lead.