A very sweet young girl approached me the other day needing advice about a guy. At first I puffed up, totally ready to tell her that the world is more than high school and how the opinions of one confused young man shouldn’t alter her own feelings of self-worth. But a voice whispered to me to be still. So I listened. And when I listened to her, I remembered.
Oh, did I remember. Those young teenage years are brutal. Your world is closed up in the bottle neck of the social norms of a group of people who haven’t yet figured out who they are and have no business telling you who you are either. And, when you meet that guy that makes your heart fall to your feet and your mind imagine your very own happily ever after, it is so cruel to be rejected.
A distant reminder of that pain blinked through my heart and instead of giving rather callous advice to this young lady, I realized that some things just have to be lived through to be understood.
That didn’t stop me from encouraging her to be strong, to remind her that she is more than what one guy thinks about her, and that God loves her more than she could ever imagine.
I know that many of my words were like putting Band-Aids on a wound that only time can heal. The Band-Aids won’t really help, they only let her know that I care. I care about the pain she feels as she goes through this journey. She’ll get there. And, perhaps life won’t get easier, but God strengthens us along the way.
Oh, did I remember. Those young teenage years are brutal. Your world is closed up in the bottle neck of the social norms of a group of people who haven’t yet figured out who they are and have no business telling you who you are either. And, when you meet that guy that makes your heart fall to your feet and your mind imagine your very own happily ever after, it is so cruel to be rejected.
A distant reminder of that pain blinked through my heart and instead of giving rather callous advice to this young lady, I realized that some things just have to be lived through to be understood.
That didn’t stop me from encouraging her to be strong, to remind her that she is more than what one guy thinks about her, and that God loves her more than she could ever imagine.
I know that many of my words were like putting Band-Aids on a wound that only time can heal. The Band-Aids won’t really help, they only let her know that I care. I care about the pain she feels as she goes through this journey. She’ll get there. And, perhaps life won’t get easier, but God strengthens us along the way.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7
Photo by Moyan Brenn
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