Helping Students Navigate Doubts
Legos have grown in popularity over the years. This is in part to their simple and easy to use design as well as they have great brands now attached to their name. This Danish company started in 1932 selling wooden toys and has now grown into an 8.8 billion dollar industry (2023 US revenue). I remember when I was younger getting a new set of Legos. I was always into the castle sets and loved the grey walls with the knights and horses. There was something special about sorting through those blocks and following those instructions to make my castle look like the one on the front of the box. It was creative and therapeutic all at the same time. The bigger the better, right?
I remember carrying my castle down the hallway of our house to show my parents this great structure I had constructed. After all, I had just finished the greatest castle this kingdom had ever seen just in time to help protect the king and queen from the coming Lego dragon. While carrying my castle on the flimsy green base plates I bumped into something causing me to be just off balance, losing my grip on my castle. If this were a scene on a television show, this would be the slow motion, pieces going everywhere like an explosion time. You’d hear the long, drawn out noooooo as the chaos ensued. Even if this exact event hasn’t happened to you, you feel the pain of this moment. What now though? What was a castle is now grey, plastic rubble.
I think this painful scene is accurate for many students these days. Not so much Legos but life. I’ve had numerous conversations with students over the years and have observed much of the same where they’ve had an experience with God and then life happens and causes doubt. They’ve followed the instruction up to this point and their “Lego structure” is looking good and strong. Then the unforeseen happens and life falls to the ground and explodes everywhere. Now what? How do those of us that lead and work with students help them navigate when doubts creep in or life happens?
One of the first things I tell my students in times like these is, doubts or normal and natural. At the very core, all doubts are simply asking questions. I’m not sure about you, reader, but questions typically weren’t very welcome in the churches I grew up in. It wasn’t always said but there was an idea that questions were a lack of faith or a lack of trust in the church’s leadership. Neither of those things were true in asking questions, especially curious ones. What if we could normalize open dialogue, questions and all. I think we sometimes feel the pressure to have all the answers in situations like this but we don’t. In fact, I think it shows our students it’s okay to have doubts by not having all of the answers.
I’ve already eluded to this but the second thing I always say is, let’s continue this conversation. My mom came to my rescue when my Lego castle hit the ground and help me pick up the pieces. We have the same responsibility for those we lead and serve. To help them pick up the pieces when the tough times of life happen, especially on the heels of powerful moments with God. It seems the times they have the most doubts about their faith journey is when things aren’t going as well as they hoped. Times when life gets challenging, when life bumps us and we spill our Legos all over the floor.
In that moment the Legos hit the floor we have a choice. Actually, I believe we have three choices. The first is to leave them there on the floor, the second is to put them back together the way we want, and the third is to do the hard work of sorting through the mess and rebuilding the way it originally was. The thing we must catch and teach our students is, doubts should lead to searching for truth not giving up. I’ve found that many of this generation want to give up when they face doubts instead of doing the hard work of finding truth. We can help them get back to a place of instruction and rebuilding their faith instead of walking away.
Yes, they have questions about God when life gets challenging, and they’re probably not alone, so we can have these honest conversations. We can help them understand that doubts are part of their faith journey and more importantly, show them how to seek truth. I eventually put my castle back together and by the instructions, because I wanted to look like the outside of the box. Many have walked through doubts in their faith journey and come out with a stronger faith on the other side. We have such a great opportunity to help do the same for those we lead. Helping students navigate doubt grows their faith, your faith, and builds the kingdom.
Let’s rebuild some Lego castles! Keep leading well! Stay the course, you have what it takes.