Real Life Reflections

I love getting older. Maybe not the body-falling-apart thing, but I love the security and wisdom that comes with age. Life is so much more enjoyable when you don't feel the need to prove yourself to anyone any longer. I know that not everyone is going to like me, not that I've figured out why - I mean I think I'm a pretty nice person, but now that I've finally accepted this fact, I'm okay with it. I don't have to become someone I'm not in my attempts to make everyone like me. Woo-hoo! Of course, this hasn't been a true statement for all that long. It especially wasn't true in junior high, which is where I've been living the past few days. Oh I know all the hype about leaving the past behind you and how we have to live in the moment, blah blah blah; but a few days ago, I opened my email to find that I had a Facebook message from a girl with whom I went to grade school. Even though I graduated from the 8th grade just . . . ummm . . . just a yea...

There's an epidemic in this country. It may be world-wide, but I don't know that for a fact. No, I don't mean the H1N1 virus. This epidemic is an epidemic of the heart, and it's found among females, typically those in their teen/young adult years. Unfortunately, there's nothing that the pediatrician or family practice doc or even a cardiologist can do about it and neither will your insurance cover the treatment. As a teen, I suffered from it, so it's easy for me to recognize. What is it? It's a desperate desire to be loved by someone of the opposite sex. Key word: desperate. A girl affected by this virus becomes susceptible by the belief that she's worthless. Although typically, that's not a blatant thought. It comes in other more palatable guises. Most prevalent is the lie that love = sex, which at first glance seems to have nothing to do with self-worth issues. However, if you live with that lie long enough, the truth of its root surfaces - a girl...

As I write this, it is the Wednesday before Mothers' Day. One would think that an ode to mothers would be appropriate for today's blog, but I find that there's something else on my heart that I have to share. I'm sure my mom won't mind. Actually, considering where she is, I believe she's cheering me on! I read a devotional yesterday. The topic was the God of the Old Testament. It piqued my interest immediately because, up until recently, that was a trouble spot in my faith. I mean, be honest, reading the O.T. can be a real turn-off some times - all that wrath of God stuff. It's just not pretty. Then God says things like He never changes (Malachi 3:6) and that He's the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). So we're left to reconcile the angry, vengeful God of the Old Testament with the loving, compassionate Jesus of the New Testament. While I completely agree with the writer of yesterday's devotional that "when there seems to be ...