Saturday, January 30, 2010

Inspiration

I was once told that things were going to change the older I became. Do you remember the days of playing outside until the street lights came on or maybe playing cops and robbers with your friends? The things I had to worry most about were if I was going to fall off my bike or get in trouble for going down the street too far.
Then, when middle school came along, things became harder- acceptance, school, boys, sports, drama, and so much more! I remember having one-week "boyfriends" and when they broke up with me or the other way around I would think it was the end of the world. Who knew that one day I would look back on those moments and laugh? I also remember my sister getting married. I thought I had lost my best friend. I remember being angry but then I realized I had gained a brother.
Later on in high school, life seemed to become even harder. Now that I look back on it, I realize that I missed out on a lot of experiences and fun moments because I was worrying too much about things that would not have mattered the next day. Why do we do this? Sometimes I wonder how much fun and more memorable high school days would have been if I would have just let time heal things instead of me or not worrying about those pointless things.
Now I am in college. Drama still happens but it is even more pointless now than when it was happening in high school. Life really is too short. There were so many young deaths last year and at the beginning of this year, but hopefully not the rest of this year. Life is too short to have regrets, regrets that will haunt you for the rest or your life or just make you think of what could have happened. Instead, we should remember why we are on this earth and do our best to be thankful for what we have and inspire those around us. Why should we take for granted the very breath God gave us when there is a beautiful creation all around us? I know that life does get hard and it can get too difficult for us to handle but there is a God. A God who holds us when we are hurting. A God who gave us people to lift us up and to carry us.
I could be married next year and have kids in five years. It is crazy how fast life happens. One day we're learning how to ride our bikes, then the next day we're learning how to be on our own, and what seems like weeks later we are learning how to take care of a family. We need to realize that we shape our future and our children's future with every step we take. The decisions we make now are going to either help us in the future or hurt us. Which will it be? Let me ask you a few questions. Do you want to be successful? What is success to you? Is it how much money you will make? What kind of person you will marry? How many kids you will have? How many friends you will have made? If any of those came to mind first, then you need to sit back and rethink your priorities. When you are dying someday and you look back on your life, what will you think about? What will your success be? It won't be that you made all that money, that you had five kids, or that you married a doctor. No, your success will be based on what kind of impact you made on your husband, your kids, your friends, the world. Will people look at you as the person who led them to Christ, the person who showed them what true love really was, who showed them what a Christian really looks like, or maybe that you saved their life? It is crazy what kind of mark people can leave on this world and in people's hearts. I do not know about you, but I want to inspire people. I want to inspire them with my words and actions I want to show them what true love is. I want to show them that they will never be alone or have to ever hurt alone. I'm going leave you with a question to think about. Who will you inspire?