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.

Start with one...

"You wanna know how to change the world, son? One random act of kindness at a time." ("God" played by Morgan Freeman in Evan Almighty).

Simple Things like Small Kindnesses

Small kindnesses are often hard to come by or maybe they aren't. Maybe we just overlook them. Either way, they rarely get appreciated to the extent they deserve. I started thinking about this the other day after a small kindness was shown toward me.

I was walking into a building and I was planning to use the elevator. I was alone and I wasn't carry anything, but my purse (just noting that my hands were completely free). A gentleman was walking just a few brisk paces ahead of me. The gentleman (who I do not know and who never looked back) heard the sound of my boots and simply walked right by the elevator and pushed the button for me. Why was this so kind? Well, because the gentleman knew it would take the elevator a moment to arrive and he was taking the stairs. As I approached the elevator, it arrived. I smiled to myself...and truly felt appreciative of this simple, but sincere gesture.

When I arrived at my destination, the gentleman was also coming from the stairs. I looked in his direction and simply said "Thank you"...his reply "No problem." Though he may never know that I thought enough of his gesture to blog about it (perhaps I'm just running out of material, right?). But I did. The whole evening I thought about random acts of kindness and the way a simple sweet gesture from a friend or stranger can make us feel. The feeling...amazing. Don't believe me, try it. My goal: commit more random acts of kindness, because I have been on the receiving end of them many times in life and I know how rewarding they are and how much they can be appreciated.

"It's the little things that make a difference, it's the little things that show love. It's that little things. A simple cup of water, that can change the world..." -song by jj heller

A glimpse of Him.

This morning at church one of my girls I volunteer with ran up and hugged me. She was eager to tell me she was being baptized. And in that moment, I realized how much we can care about the lives of others. She wanted me to care about her baptism and I did. Though I no longer volunteer with the fourth and fifth grade girls (as I am now with the teens at my church) I still love the younger girls immensely. I want for them all that God can offer. I want them to walk so close to Him that they can hear His whispers, smell His grace, and brush up against His unfailing love. I want them to hold tightly the hand of Jesus.

A while back I said I wanted this to be my year of selfless discovery. I wanted to make 2010 about others and not about me. Well, that hasn't been entirely a success, because I'm human and my desires still get in my way. But I have found that I can care and love others so completely, that I want what's best for them above anything else. I want God to pour into them the same blessings and promises that He has poured into me this past year. I want for them LIFE, not just the kind where you wake up breathing, but the kind where you wake up LIVING in FREEDOM and ABOUNDING LOVE.

Though the year is not over...I'm thankful for all that God has done for me and around me in 2010. And I know that when we come to a place where we place more value on the lives of others, than on our own...that is the place where we see a glimpse of God's grace, love and mercy. I want more glimpses of that place.

Thankful that we serve a God who is not self-seeking but rather a God who seeks fully the attention of our selfish hearts.