Do Hard Things

I don't have time to do a full review right now, but I highly recommend that if you have teens, know a teen, or are a teen that you read Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex and Brett Harris. The Harris men are absolutely right about the bar being too low for American teens. How many times have you heard an adult lament the fact that all teens are rebellious and difficult? It's in the air we breath in our culture, and it's really a shame. Young people can do great things, and I appreciate the Harrises exhortation. As Paul Tripp reminds us in one of my favorite books, the teen years is an "age of opportunity".

I finished the book a couple of nights ago and passed it on to PalmGirl. She started reading it last night, and she's had her nose in it every spare moment. Today I came home from an appointment to find that she had, on her own initiative, vacuumed and mopped the floors and cleaned both of our bathrooms. That should be enough to get you to read the book, right? :-) Seriously, she did something that she considered hard -- giving up her "free" time -- in order to bless me and make my life easier. And she has been inspired to think beyond our own home and try to figure out some contribution she can make to others.

Get this book. And give it to others. It's a good one.