"God's greatest gift"

Someone once said, "Too often, we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the power to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally!"

I know that most people have heard the expression, "God's greatest gift is love", and I am one to believe that this is true. One of the best things that I have learned out of life is to love people, let them into my life, and let them become as close to my heart as they are willing to get. No, I honestly don't like every single person that I meet, usually because our personalities clash, but that doesn't mean that they don't have good qualities. When I do meet someone that I get along with, I am quick to become close to that person, and I deeply care about them. I have also learned that this can be a good thing, or it can be a bad thing. This can be a bad thing because I tend to let people get really close to me, and then in an instant, they are gone, I have to realize that they never truly cared, and I get hurt. If they are willing to walk out of your life, not giving a care in the world, they probably weren't meant to be a part of your life in the first place. The good thing is, I'm strong, and I know that in order to stand back up and keep walking foward, you have to fall down sometimes, scraping your knees a few times along the way.

Another thing that I have learned about love is that not everyone loves in the same way. Someone once said, "...just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, it doesn't mean that they don't love you with all they have." I show my love towards people through hugs, and I am not a distant person. When I hug someone, I sometimes feel that they don't care if all I get is a pat on the back, but I know that not everyone has a close, affectionate personality like I do. The thing that you have to remember is that you can't let this be an interference between you and another person.

Yesterday, Mandy, our Sunday school teacher asked us to raise our hand if we are a good listener. She then went on to explain that not everyone is a good listener, and it is easy for us to believe that they don't care. I raised my hand to say that I am a good listener, but honestly, I can't even begin to recount the times in my life when I have ignored someone or only heard half of what they had to say because I was too busy thinking about myself or what I am going to say back to them. I believe that one thing I am pretty good at is giving advice or "words of wisdom", so when people are talking to me, I am sometimes more focused on what I will say in return. Do I always hear all that they have to say? Do they know that I even care about what they are saying? These are things that continuously ran through my mind as Mandy was speaking. I think about all the times that I have gotten frustrated with someone because they seemed to be in their "own little world" or began speaking while I was talking to them, but were they really just trying to think of a response to my words like I tend to do? One of my best friends is a really great listener, but I don't realize it at times because she doesn't look at you when you're speaking, and you honestly can't even tell if she knows you're there, but in the end, she can repeat every single word you said and even reassure you that she cares and knows how you feel. If I wasn't willing to give her a chance and find out that she truly is a good listener, I could have lost a great friendship.

The last important thing that I have learned about love is that it can come from more than one type of person. I have love from God, my family, and my friends, but neither love is the same. The love that I receive from God is eternal, and it can never be altered. The love from my family and friends is a little more alike, but my families' is a little stronger and personal because we have been through everything together. My parents will stand up for me no matter what life throws my way, and I will love them through every single battle we face. I love my friends very deeply, but I know that not all of my friends can be the same and love me in the same way. I have some friends who are younger and some who are older, some who like the same things I do and some who don't, and I also have some friends who are closer to me than the others, but I love them all. Just because some of my friends are closer doesn't mean that they are of any more importance than the others; it just means that I need to try harder to become equally close to them.

With all of this said, other people mean everything to me. Family, friends, teachers...they have all been put into my life for a purpose, even if that purpose means that they will be leaving my life, causing me to fall so that I will have to get back up again and become a stronger person. It's the same for you as well. All you have to do is pay attention to detail and find out exactly why God places each person that you encounter into your life; it may be very simple, but it could also be life-changing!

"Time flies"

Last night, our church youth group had a New Year's celebration. I can honestly say that I had a wonderful time; it was the most fun I have had in a while. My favorite part of the entire night was when our pastor taught us a lesson on making a brand "new year" for ourselves, New Year's resolutions, and figuring out what exactly we are going to spend our time on. All throughout his lesson, I couldn't stop reminiscing over the past four years of my life-high school. Knowing that I'm graduating this year, the sudden realization that it's 2011 hit me a lot deeper than I was expecting.

While Roger, our pastor, was speaking, he mentioned that one of the things that he couldn't stress enough was that we shouldn't wish our lives and time away because even though we think it's not that big of a deal now, the time will go by more quickly than we realize. This was the part of the lesson where I just wanted to shout, "AMEN"!!! My biggest pet peeve is when someone says that they cannot stand high school, they are so ready for it to be over with, and that college can't come soon enough. They think that they are living some nightmare, when the truth of the matter is that they are living one of the best experiences that life has to offer; they are running away from something that they haven't even been willing to give a chance.

 I have been in that position before. The point in your life when you're just ready for everything about being a teenager to end. When I was in the 9th and 10th grades, I was more than ready for the day to be over with before it even began. Finally, in the 11th grade, I started to find myself, realizing who I was meant to be, and what my purpose was. Some people may say that I'm crazy; crazy for loving school in general, crazy for seeing the act of learning and having an education as one of the greatest blessings of life, and crazy for thinking of teachers as real human beings, but the truth of the matter is that these people could see the exact same things that I see if only they would open their eyes.

You may think that the reason I started to truly see things in a different light in the 11th grade was because that is the year I finally commited to the idea that I wanted to be a teacher. Yes, it has a little to do with it, but the real reason is because I was finally able to open my eyes and wake up to what I was so blind to see all along. I found myself that year because I realized that my best friends could be even closer than they were to begin with, I could make new friends that I had never even considered speaking to before, I could trust 3 teachers with every single aspect of my life, knowing that they will stand up for me and defend me no matter what life throws my way, and I found that my life was passing by my eyes too quickly. A combination of all these things led me to be the person that I am today, and I am so grateful. I don't care who agrees with me and who doesn't. I only wish that more people could take a step into my shoes and see what I see everyday.

I say all of this to sum up the fact that for the first time in my life, last night, I had the greatest satisfaction when I considered everything I have done these past four years of my life, where I've been, and what I've done to get there, and I realized that I have completed one more goal in my life. I now know that I am exactly who I have been waiting my whole life to be, and I wouldn't go back and change a single second of my life because I wouldn't be the same person, sitting here right now, proclaiming that I have become the person that Christ truly intended for me to become.

"People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself, but the self is not something that one finds, it's something one creates". --Thomas Szasz

If you want to get anywhere in life and be truly happy at the same time, you have to take initiative and make a new beginning for yourself, start over, and CREATE the person you desire to be. The people that God have placed in your life are there for a reason, and they can help you along the way.