Third grade was a really tough year for me in school. I think that third grade is the point where peer pressure begins to take shape. It is the time when kids go from being sort of innocent and in their own little worlds to starting to really look at where they stand in relation to other kids. This has been the first year I have ever heard Evan talk in terms of having a "best" friend. Always before, he has just said that all of the kids in his class were equal in terms of friendship. Things are changing in those dynamics.

All of this, along with some other things, gave me some issues when I was in the third grade. Like I said in my earlier Third Grade post, I struggled with fitting in. I was nowhere even close to being athletically inclined and this was the age when kids started to care about that stuff and started to compare themselves to each other.

Deep down, I was hoping that those sorts of comparisons didn't exist at Evan's school. We'd not seen them in the previous years so I was hoping we'd never see them. But, alas, it seems inevitable and while maybe, just maybe, it happens less at Evan's school than at other schools, it still happens there.

As much as I hated going through that and as much as I hate seeing my son go through it, I know now that, for me, it played a critical role in helping me to define myself and weather my teenage years. Through all of this, I somehow figured out that we really are all different and gifted in different ways. The positive result of this was that I was not very affected by peer pressure when I was a teen. Going all the way back to elementary school, I had never really felt much like other kids. Like I said, I had early on accepted the fact that we are all different. That way, when I was a teen, I really didn't feel the need to follow the crowd in ways that I instinctively knew were wrong, just for the purpose of "fitting in." I perhaps don't want to go so far as to say that I didn't want to fit in but, fact is, I really didn't care whether I did or not.

As an adult, for some reason, I sometimes find myself seeking the approval of others more than I did when I was younger but, still, if I feel strong in my convictions on something, I do not have any problem standing up for it because I still do not have a problem with not fitting in -- and instead even marching to the tune of my own drummer if necessary.

God prepares us for our futures. We may not like it. And, in fact, in third grade, it can be very painful. But, in the end, we can see how God used those difficult times and those painful moments to prepare and mold us into what he wanted us to be in the future.

O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand. (Jeremiah 18:6)

Still, God, you are our Father. We're the clay and you're our potter: All of us are what you made us. (Isaiah 64:8 MSG)

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Romans 8:26-28 MSG)

My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world's language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception. (I John 4:4-6 MSG)