The Homecoming Date

This weekend is Homecoming. For months, the girls have been consumed with finding the perfect dress and shoes, wondering how to fix their hair, getting nails done and wondering about who they should ask or worrying about who might ask them to the dance. Some daydream about "Mr. Hotty" sending a "text" to ask her to the dance. (What happened to the telephone...for actually talking?) Some are content to go in groups while others MUST have a date. So much thought, worry, anxiety, stress and sometimes fun goes into Homecoming. The boys, well, they're a little different breed. Some may go buy a new suit because Mom makes them while others will figure it out on Saturday. Most don't feel it necessary to make plans of any kind prior to Dance day. Parents (okay, mothers) want to know "how are you getting there, who's driving, where are you going to dinner, where is the dance, what are you doing after the dance, who all is in the "group", what time is her curfew". Boys don't have answers to these questions. They do make sure mom or dad picks up the corsage for their date and they plan to shower 20 minutes before needing to be at her house for pictures, and mom can go take pictures if she promises to act like she is a total stranger passing by and stops just to try out her new camera, having never seen the young man before. I know there are a few boys out there who have a streak of romance and will plan to arrive in a limo, take her to the perfect dinner and dance with her like he has just been on "Dancing with Stars", sweeping her off her feet - but those guys are hard to find!

I wonder with all the weeks of preparation leading up to the big evening, how many of the girls and boys have spent any time thinking about the hours following the dance. Have they planned ahead and know where their bar is set? Where their line is drawn? How many of them decide before dance night what their answer will be when faced with a situation of giving in and giving their innocence away because someone is putting pressure on them to "go all the way" or even part of the way? Do they realize they will never be able to take it back? If they only realized that in a few weeks or months, that "special someone" will move on to someone else. If both girls and guys could understand that they deserve better than that, they deserve to be treated better than that. As boys are putting the pressure on the girls to become sexually involved, they should remember she is someone's daughter, she is someone's sister, she is going to be someone's mother. Do they really want to face those people in her life? The girls who are so boy crazy and would do anything to "keep him" should remember he is someone's son, he is someone's brother and he is going to be someone's dad. Maybe, just maybe, she'd stop throwing herself at him. Respecting each other for who they are today and who they will become would stop the wrong behavior.

You can go on dates and have a great time without the sex. You're too young for that emotional ride. You deserve better than living with guilt and shame, risking disease and pregnancy. Your future is bright and full of hope. Don't let anyone take that from you.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11