Teenage Self

Last week I attended a training for work. The training was incredible. It taught me a great deal about working with girls and their sensitivities. It also taught me how to listen, like really listen. Not the kind of listening where you are already wanting to interrupt with what YOU have to say, but instead the kind of listening where you just let someone else be heard. Also, in this training we wrote a letter to our teenage self with all the experience and information that we now know. They were very personal, but I'd like to share mine all the same.

Dear Teenage Self,

Read these words carefully and know that they are being passed along to help you. Sometimes the greatest wisdom is that that comes from inside of yourself.

Listen to your parents, they truly do know best. Don't be so hard on yourself. Be careful about receiving and mistranslating affection from guys. Continue to pursue your dreams, even if they change over time or even if you feel you never reach them. Don't let the opinions of others become your opinions. Never quit. Find reasons to love yourself. And I'll give you one reason now: God loves you. Remember to engage in positive conversations with your mother, respect her. She loves you. A lot.

Don't stop building a relationship with the Lord---he has your best interest at heart. Begin exercising so that it will become a discipline in your life. Go ahead and stop eating meat, you are going to do it down the road anyways. Your smile is beautiful even though you have braces, so go on and smile more. (Side note: I had braces all through high school.)

Embrace today. Write your dad more "I love you" notes, cause one day he won't be around to read them. The only time you'll be able to see his face is in pictures. So, memorize his smile. Be bold. Believe. Stand taller. Keep your head up and your shoulders back. There's nothing wrong with good posture. Eat fruit, you can't survive on cookies and chips. FORGIVE. Forgive, forgive.

Love unconditionally, this will take you a lifetime to accomplish but try. Serve more. Whine less. Remember, it's not AT ALL about you. Pray harder. Don't underestimate the power of Christ in your life or His love. And let Him know it by pursuing Him. Constantly. Consistently. And Continuously. Love. And love some more. Keep loving until you feel like it's effortless.

You are not alone, and it's not such a bad thing if you turn out a little like your parents.

Much love,

The older and barely wiser....you.