Hey Teenage-Self...Let's Chat
Have you ever been asked the question “If you could go back in time, and give your teenage-self advice, what would you say?”. I have, and I would always say that I wouldn’t go back and talk to her, because she probably wouldn’t listen anyway ( I’m kidding….sorta). Today is my birthday. If I were to divide my age in half, I would be speaking to a delightful seventeen year old, embarking on the first of many great adventures she would journey through in her life.
At the hottest point of summer 2002, and a week before senior year starting, most kids were wrapping up vacations and summer jobs. Going back to school shopping, and trying to hang out with friends as much as they could before weekday curfews were reinforced. I, on the other hand was laid up in a hospital bed, getting ready to have my first child. I just always had to being doing something different than my peers I guess (relax…you just gotta have a sense of humor about it now). All jokes aside, it was the summer that set the course for the rest of my life.
During my pregnancy, there were plenty of people who felt they needed to give their two cents to an already obviously difficult situation. Majority of those people were my junior year teachers. I actually had one approach my very large, pregnant self and tell me “ You know, if you just wouldn’t have sex, you wouldn’t be pregnant.” I stared at her with all bewilderment… did she seriously think I didn’t know that?
That teacher probably thought she was giving me helpful advice. However, what she was doing was driving me further into myself, causing me to hate the situation I was in even more. STUFF HAPPENS!! We mess up, and if its not fatal we keep it movin. Someone that I admire a lot spoke of me to a large group of judgmental adults, and made a statement to them that I never forgot. He told the group “Sharesse is out here doing the same thing the rest of your kids are doing, only difference is that she got caught.” WOW…how true that was.
My father is a praying man. He always told my siblings and I that his prayer for us was that whatever mistakes we made, that they weren’t fatal, and that we would ALWAYS get caught. Let me tell you this… I’m still alive and I’ve been caught on too many occasions to count! So, maybe that would be my advice to my teenage-self. GET CAUGHT. See, my dad knew that for some people, the only way they would turn from their wicked behavior was to get caught in the act. Some of us who are a little more hard headed than others may need to hit “rock bottom” and get caught a few times before it sinks in.
Every time I got caught, it was always the best thing for me, and always right on time. Each occasion caused me to reflect on the situation, and bring my destructive behavior to light. The choices after that were mine to make. Either I would go right or go left. In Deuteronomy 30, there is a passage that speaks to this very situation. God gives us options in life. We have the opportunity to choose life of to choose death. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 NLT “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. 16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
17 “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This[a] is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
If I could go back and give advice to my teenage-self I would say this to her “ SISTER…once you are done getting caught, hitting rock bottom, and doing it your own way, how about you CHOOSE LIFE? The life your living now doesn’t have to be this hard, but you are making it that way. Yeah, you may come out stronger because of all this, but there is a strength to be had that comes ONLY FROM A LIFE OF COMPLETE SUBMISSION TO THE FATHER.”
Maybe your reading this blog today, and could use the words that were meant for my teenage-self, for your life today. If so I would encourage you…CHOOSE LIFE, AND LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY. Peace out and journey on friends.
