1 Timothy 4:12 (ESV)
“Let know one despise you because your youth but set the believers and example through in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.”
So farting was happening in my house the other day cause, you know, that’s how we roll over here. No holding back emotions and I guess farting too, ha. Of course, we then talked about how my husband farted on our first date. They still think it’s hysterical. Seriously, full blown ripped it walking down the street in Chicago. I was like, I guess this is real then. I had another story pop in my head that I hadn’t thought of in years. I was in high school and we were all hanging out in the gym. I was laying on the floor while girls and guys were sitting around me. One guy decided it would be funny to step on my stomach……you can totally see where this is going. Yep, totally farted! In front of EVERYONE! HORRIFYING!!!! I still can relive that feeling of laughing on the outside and dying on the inside. In that stage of life, you cared so much about what people thought ESPECIALLY guys. It was rough.
I thought to myself, what would I tell that girl today? What would I want to say to her now that she didn’t realize then? First, to choose not to wear half the shirts that were in her closet! I mean, do you look back sometimes and are like, what was I thinking? Obviously, the time of life was different, but still. Get it together! But really, I’d tell her to stand tall. To walk those hallways as if you owned them. Everyone is feeling and thinking the same thing you are, they are just hiding behind their own mask. The confusion or the lost feeling inside of you isn’t truth and does not define you. You are amazingly beautiful and they just can’t see it yet. God don’t make no mistakes sister so stop judging your hair, or your zits, or if your stomach is flat, or if you have the best clothes (although we could’ve done better, hehe) You are a warrior!
Hmmmm, interesting that these are still things I should and need to be telling myself today. So then I’ll be sure to tell her, none of this goes away so just embrace it, right? One last thing I’d tell her; God is real and alive. Although He is constantly talked about around you, He truly does live inside of you. Lean into His truth instead of the truth you want to believe around you. In the end, the beauty and love He has for you will never compare to what you think you’ll get from anyone else.
Your turn! What would you tell your high school self today? What do you think he/she would need to hear in order to handle a gymnasium farting situation? Are some of these truths something you also need to hear? Today? In the end, we tell them to embrace the awkward, smile, laugh, love Jesus, and be free! Sounds like something we need to do now!
‘Dear younger self, you are perfect exactly as you are.’
Wounded to Warrior 