When I was younger, much younger, I had BIG dreams. I felt that God had BIG PLANS for my life…but I was stuck. At least I felt stuck. I began seeking God and His plans for me when I was about 12 years old and continued to watch for Him through my teens. It wasn’t always easy to stay on the straight path and sometimes I strayed. Having too many extracurricular activities was not a problem where I grew up. There was nothing, and I mean NOTHING, to do. Boredom can steal your focus from God just as much as being too busy can. As I began parenting my girls, I wanted them to experience all that God’s world had to offer. I wanted them to be able to try things and see where their passions would lie. I wanted them to grow up with few regrets of things that might have been.
We tried various sports, dance, clubs, groups, camps and mission trips. We went on field trips, read books and traveled. Hopefully the girls were able to experience things in their lives that would point them to their God-given passions and abilities. I told the girls to try everything at least once and the things they liked…DO IT AGAIN.
When middle school came I asked the girls to do everything they had any interest in, but by high school they had to pick one interest. My daughter Michele tried basketball, clubs, band and peer tutoring. Lindsay didn’t really have any interests in and around school, she wanted to dance ballet. Robin is sports-gifted so she tried tennis, basketball, cross-country, soccer, a little bit of golf and peer tutoring. By the time high school came around, Michele had dropped band and sports, but kept her grades high and found that she loved to help kids learn. Lindsay still didn’t like the organization of school much, but loved her ballet classes. Now she is enjoying being able to choose her college classes on her schedule much better than high school. Robin chose to play soccer, keep her grades high and volunteer her time at church.
These are only three daughters from the same family with the same values seeking to find their place in God’s family. It gets crazy at our house trying to balance everyone’s schedule, but the most important thing is to keep God FIRST and all the other STUFF falls into place. Our family MOTTO is “You have time for what you make time for”. If God says, “Where’s MY time?” the answer better not be “I didn’t have time”. He gave up something pretty important for you, so you should be willing to give up a little something for HIM.
There is a famous quote from George Bernard Shaw: “Youth is Wasted On the Young”. I think it is famous because all of us old people wish we had YOUR energy and potential with OUR wisdom and we would have made better choices when we had the chance. In the Bible…in Ecclesiates, King Solomon says that it is good to be young and enjoy life. Solomon lived life to the fullest. He tried everything under the sun and you know what he found out??? It’s all meaningless unless GOD is there.
Take every opportunity to try new things and meet new people. Put God first and let him light the way to those new things. You will NEVER regret one minute following God. You WILL regret leaving him out. I promise. Don’t waste your youth being stupid. Your life is a GIFT, give it back to God and see what He wants to make of it.
What you are is God’s gift to you. What you make of it is your gift to God.
Let’s PRAY:
Dear Father, Thank you for the gift of this life and the opportunities in it. Thank you for giving us individual passions and desires that aren’t like anyone else’s. Help us to find our place in your BIG family. Help us find balance when life seems overwhelming and gets us down. We know you love us and forgive us when we fail. Help us to forgive ourselves and move even closer to you. We love you, be patient with us as we learn to show you how much with our actions. AMEN