Mar 9 - "Peer Pressure"

Romans 1:1-15
"For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. "
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Saturday evening, I was at dinner with our daughter Maddy and six of her seventh-grade friends, celebrating Maddy's 13th birthday. Yes...we are in the teen years. For a couple of hours before dinner, walking around the mall, these girls laughed, talked, shopped, giggled and had a great time together. When we arrived for dinner at the restaurant, this all continued, making it difficult to not only decide what they were eating, but a challenge for the server to get their attention long enough to take their orders.

As the food arrived, the laughing and talking was in full swing. Just before we started to dig in, one of Maddy's friends, Renee', said "Wait, we have to say a prayer!". She bowed her head, as did the rest of us, and said a quick, simple prayer thanking God for the fun time they were having, for having Maddy as a friend and for the food we were about to eat.

I was stunned.

This young girl, for whom peer pressure is most likely a very real thing every day, as opposed to the distant concept it is for me, was willing to show her faith in a very open way in a public setting without giving it a second thought. I was, at that moment, embarassed for the hundreds, if not thousands of times I have been at meals in restaurants, but have not felt comfortable about saying a simple prayer of thanks, lest I risk some stares from other tables.

In today's reading, Paul is writing to the Roman church of that time, lamenting about the fact that he has been unable to come and visit them. He wanted to be with them to share a spiritual gift, perhaps as simple as breaking bread in an early form of Communion. But alternately, he wants to be with them that they might encourage each other in their faith. Even Paul, an early leader of the Christian Church, wanted and needed to be encouraged by others to keep his faith strong.

So, encourage each other! Find a way today to show visibly that you are a Christian, that you believe in God and that the Holy Spirit moves within you at all times. Do this so that you encourage someone to do the same, and then you are encouraged in kind. It can be a hug, a friendly word, a smile...or bowing your head to give thanks when you are thankful for being with friends, breaking bread.