"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but do justice, and to love kindness{mercy} and to walk humbly with thy God?  {Micah 6:8} ESV

My very good friend has just become a Mena, which is Italian for Grandmother! What a joy for her, and her family. Her daughter can't stop looking at her brand new baby boy! A baby seems to never come, and once they arrive we are mesmerized by their presence. What a miracle they are, and what a joy to be a mother!

This joy I speak of can be hard to find, after the childhood stage turns into the teenage stage. I once was told that small children, bring small problems. Big children bring big problems. It can become overwhelming to see a perfectly good child enter into "the ways of the teen"!! They enter that never to be seem again zone, and you wonder if they will make it through, and if they do, what they will be like on the "other side." This morphing needs a lot of prayer, and I do mean a lot.

It can be scary for the teen as well. All of of sudden emotions rise that never had before, and the perfectly respectable kid becomes like a zombie, and you think , whose child is this anyway? They are thinking the same thing, or they are feeling unsure of who they were in the first place. Change is a challenge, and in our society it comes with many outside voices screaming their names.

 My generation had tv, and we only watched that for a certain amount of time each day. Todays kids are able to access anything from social media to tv, and much worse. This really scares me. The models who tell our girls how to live and what make-up to wear, and what clothes they need.

Our verse for today expresses God's desire for us, as His people. We don't need to look any further to know His heart and mind. This is what is good: Do that and live! Who cares what so and so on the internet says. Live a just life, by doing what's good for those around you and those who you come in contact with. Kindness, and mercy as it reads in the NKJ version. Look to bless others, go out of your way for a stranger, give to those in need. Walk humbly? All you need to accomplish this is to see Jesus as you read His word. He is the embodiment of humility.We have no better example on the face of this earth!