As a college admissions counselor, I see parents and students all the time who stress out about every test taken and every hour of community service served. I try to remind them to remember the bigger picture -- that nothing is worth it if a student is miserable.

We claim to have a heart for the poor, for changing the world to more closely reflect the divinely inspired kingdom vision offered to us by Jesus. And yet, the tools required to make the changes are right before us. It's how we're choosing to employ them that betrays the darker nature of our all-too-human hearts.

Don't you remember how you used to disappear with your friends for hours at a time? Exploring, building, hiding, playing, making up songs and dances, fighting, tossing a ball, always playing in the street, coming up with strict hierarchical kid societies, disappearing into nature?