Inside Out

Riley is a 13-year-old girl heading into High School. She loves hockey, her parents, and her best friends Bree and Grace. She is beginning to form her sense of self and is really in touch with her emotions, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. Then puberty hits. Like a truck. As it did for most of us. The raging hormones install a major upgrade to her brain and suddenly Riley has to deal with a suite of new emotions, including Anxiety, Embarrassment, Jealousy, Ennui, and fleeting moments of Nostalgia. This plot from the Pixar movie Inside Out 2 became our visual metaphor this past weekend at the CBF of Georgia Children's Retreat as four of our students and two chaperones trucked it out to Rock Eagle to explore what it looks like to follow God from the inside out.

As you may expect, we had a blast. We ate far too many starbursts, learned some new card games, made friendship bracelets, and slept very little, but my favorite times came just after each worship time as we gathered as a small church group and reflected on the message (given by our own Ben Browne!). The kids painted the different emotions they feel throughout the week and danced around the lawn acting out their anger and sadness and joy. With each expression of emotion we all took in a deep breath and as we released it, we said together that, "God loves every part of me." That awareness of God's love, of God's acceptance, of our whole selves is really important for kids just learning to have a coherent sense of self. It is no less important for us adults. We've still got our anger and our sadness. We still struggle with anxiety or weariness with the world. We still get paralyzed with fear. For many of us, there are times when these emotions take over and it's not our best look. For others we have been told in some form or fashion that we shouldn't feel those emotions at all. It is true, though, that God loves every part of you.