If you read my last Creative Tuesday post then you probably remember I mentioned using a page in your journal for ideas. Have any of you collected ideas on fun things to do with friends? I’ve collected a few and I’d love to share them with you!
HERE WE GO!
- Mini golfing
- Order pizza and watch a movie
- Go four-wheeling
- Go to the lake
- Have a cook out Click here for creative backyard cookout ideas
- Play games in your back yard
- Go tubing
- Go paint baling
- Go to a coffee shop and get lost in conversation
- Go ice skating
- Go rollerblading
- Horses-back riding
- Bake or make ice pops Click here for any easy popsicle recipe
- Tie dye T-shirts, pillow cases, or sheets Click here for instructions on how to tie dye
- Host a potluck dinner in your back yard Click here for 35 potluck theme ideas
- Have a bonfire
- Go to a farmers market, then sit in the shade or in the sun and enjoy your fruit
- Go swimming
- Go-kart driving
- Eat out at a resturrant
- Go to a yogurt place
- Ride bikes at the zoo
The list could go on, but sadly I’m out of ideas for now. Some of the things I mentioned is probably not an option for you or not something you’d be interested in. That’s fine! We are all into different things.
However, when we consider what activities to do it’s important to first see if your parents approve of it. All parents have their own rules. And the Bible says to obey your parents. We may not see anything wrong with it, but our parents have lived longer and are often smarter than us. Perhaps your parents just don’t feel comfortable about the idea. They don’t always have a direct reason why they don’t approve. When this happens it’s especially hard to understand why they’re so against it, which often leads us to anger. But in these cases it works well to think it through, like this: this is what I do.
I have a conversation with myself, it goes like this: “Maria, why would they say no? Is there a reason that I can’t see?” I answer, “No, I just can’t see what they think is so wrong. It’s not like I would sink that low to let them influence me. I’m strong.” Then I ask myself, “But is it worth doing if parents don’t agree?” I think to myself, I can live without it. It’s not like I can’t have fun otherwise. Then I continue with my conversation, “If i’m angry now I’ll just have a terrible time. My whole day will be ruined, plus I upset Mom and Dad. ” Now, by the time I’ve said all this to myself in my head, I’m happy and no longer angry. I’m still disappointed and I still don’t agree or understand all the time, but it helps me to see that my parents are trying their best and I see again that I have to obey and not argue against their judgement. So whenever you want something, but your parents don’t, yet you don’t see why not? Tell yourself, “No, I don’t see why it’s wrong, but I can live without it.” If you can live without it , then there’s no point in arguing. It just causes anger and often breaks relationships.
Maybe your not under your parents roof anymore, maybe your on your own, maybe you already moved out or you think “your eighteen, you can make your own decisions.” You’re baptized, grown up and now your parents trust you to make smart decision in everything–even what you do to have fun. In these cases–and in all cases, it’s important to remember the Biblical guidelines. In the picture above it said, “in everything you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Think of it this way: if you were hanging out with friends and Jesus would pay you an unexpected visit, would you welcome Him in and offer for Him to join you or would you hide what you were doing? If you know this not something that our Heavenly Father would approve of , then don’t do it.
When we’re baptized and on our own and we attend a church regularly, this is our congregation, these are our people, then of course we have to obey their rules. We attend church to join in fellowship with our friends and family as we worship, but every church is going to have it’s own rules yet. I know our church does. In this case, we obey our church rules. The same situation might occur here, like it did with your parents in your teens. You might think to yourself, well I don’t understand why they’re against it, I don’t see what the Bible says against it. Here we can tell ourselves the same thing, “No, I don’t see why it’s wrong, but I can live without it.” If we’re going to upset our Minister by doing it, then we’re better off not upsetting him. We might still be disappointed and still not understand his or their reasons, but again, if we can live without it then there’s no point to argue or go against the rules.
Sometimes we have friends who go to different churches. I do, and our parents, along with our church have different rules, but we still want to hangout. In situations like this we have to consider each other. If our friends authorities don’t like the idea, but ours don’t see anything wrong with it then we have to respect them and find something we can both do without having a guilty conscience. Here–like through our life, we lean on the Biblical guidelines. The Bible says respect your authorities (Romans 13:1, Ephesians 6:1-3), it says show glory to God with everything you do (1 Corinthians 10:31) and do unto others as we would have them do unto us (Luke 6:31). If we pray and read often, remembering what Jesus taught us and follow His teaching we will have an easier time knowing what He approves of and what He does not.
Jesus is the furthest away from boring, He is unique and He wants us to be lighthearted and unique. He wants us to have fun and show who He is in everything we do. We do not have to sit on our couch because there’s nothing we can do, He wants us to enjoy our time and laugh with pure joy. We just have to do what He, our Teacher and Savior, approves of. There is SO much to do out there, with His guidance we can make the most incredible memories.