!!!

“Because all you are is all I want, always. Draw me close in your arms, oh God. I want to be with you.” – Hillsong United- Always

Stephen King once wrote, “Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not. Time takes it all, time bears it away, and in the end there is only darkness. Sometimes we find others in that darkness, and sometimes we lose them there again. “

 Have you found your first love? As some of you know, you never forget your first love. From the tears of sadness, to the laughter of joy, and even maybe the breaking of hearts. But you also learn important lessons with the things you love. Throughout my experience, things were lost, but things were also made as well. I learned something called dignity. Dignity means to have an elevation of character. But then, it got me thinking, I changed since so much since the first time I started high school. My life as I know it is completely different.  People change. We all change, whether for the good or the bad. But what separates the good from the bad? It’s character. If you look inside your own heart, what do you see? Do you see sorrow? Are you familiar with bitterness or pain? Do you see your life, once as a child, innocent and free, now torn by regret, hatred, or disappointment?

We experience countless feelings everyday, raging from exuberant joy to deep grief. We feel pain when someone we love dies. We feel anger when things go wrong. We feel confusion when we don’t understand. And we feel joy when something good happens. Emotions add spice and color to our lives. The book of Psalms are about emotions toward God. God created us with emotions; and he knows they will be a part of our dealings with him. Our emotions change constantly, but God’s doesn’t. When we fall on our face with sin, God isn’t surprised. He alone is God. How do you feel today? Angry, frustrated, heart broken, joyfull tired? What if you found out something about your life that you absolutely had no clue about?

Have you ever wondered what marks our time here? If one life can really make an impact on the world or if choices we make matter. Sometimes in order to move forward, you have to go back. Have you ever heard the phrase, “ Don’t let life pass you by?” God created things for you to enjoy. Stop and enjoy them. For example, if you’re an analytical person, have you ever been on a ride and instead of actually enjoying the ride, you kept talking about the lighting, the fact that the fog coming from the ground is really from a fogger machine? Sometimes, we miss the whole ride because we are so busy trying to figure everything out.

If heaven is some type of paradise, we’d want to know what we did in our lives. I’d want to know who I impacted. The jock at school, the hooker down the street, the homeless person sitting on the curb, the loner at school, and the person I will love. All these people, no matter what, may have an impact on your life even if you never met them before. I would want to know what would have happened if I didn’t become friends with this person or actually came out of my shell to tell this person something. Everything you do matters. No matter what it is.

Happiness comes in many forms: in the company of good friends, in the feeling you get when you make someone else’s dream come true, or in the promise of hope renewed. It’s ok to let yourself be happy. So, what is your dream?  Where do you see yourself in ten years? Admit something that worries you, or something you’re afraid of. What is your secret?

Think about it.

                “Lost love is still love. It takes a different form that’s all. You can’t see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.”