observations from the influx of new 6th graders

Our middle school ministry (XStream) is hopping. We had our Welcome Weekend last weekend, which is our fall retreat to introduce the incoming 6th grade students to XStream. I forget how little they are at this time of year.

My son is in 6th grade, so he got to participate fully in the worship, teaching, games, and all that jazz for the first time. He brought several of his friends to the weekend, and to last night's first XStream meeting. Here are a couple of observations:

• boys and girls don't like to sit together--yet.
• Almost all the guys' conversations overheard revolved around some sort of superhero/anime stuff, which makes me realize that Levi is pretty normal in that regard. He talks about that stuff like it's the stuff of life.
• they're all so small! By the end of last year, we had several 8th grade guys who towered over me (5'10"). 6th graders are little wee people.
• they take some time to get used to corporate worship. There are lots of little conversations, air guitar players, and fidgety students for the first few months.
• they're generally responsive and teachable. They listen when adults speak, and ask good questions (and the occasional goofy rabbit-trail question.
• Most of the girls who are coming are dressing modestly. We fight that battle as our young ladies grow older, but at this point in the year, our middle school girls aren't trying to be Brittany.

They grow up all to quickly, though, so we treasure the time we get to spend with them, asking God to give us wisdom and favor as we try to shape their young lives. We are clinging to the promise that if we plant the seeds of the Kingdom of God, fruit will grow.