Last night, I was reading a chapter of "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris. The chapter was talking about how teenagers want to spend their teenage years "partying it up" and having fun before "real life" hits. The metaphor they used to explain this was super good and I loved it! So I'm going to kinda steel a little bit of it! ;)
They used the diving board to illustrate the teenage years, and the pool to illustrate adulthood, or "real life". The diving board is pretty much to launch us into the water right? Well the teen years are to launch us into adulthood. What we do now defines our future. Some people say, "Well I'm still a teenager. I can have fun and party before real life hits. What I'm doing now has no effect on my future. I'll be serious about life and God when I become an adult, or when I go to college."
This isn't the best idea. Have you ever decided to do a flip off the diving board, and something went wrong and you landed on the water in a belly flop position? Yea it doesn't feel so great does it? If you launch yourself in the wrong way into life, you could be doing a type of "belly flop" into it. It hurts! If I spend my teenage years treating God lightly, not really caring about my future, then I'm going to do a belly flop into life and it's gonna hurt when reality strikes.
Some people have addictions that they get themselves into as teenagers, and they pay for it the rest of their lives! In the chapter of the book they gave several examples. By the way, if you haven't read this book you should get it...It's super convicting!
I've been thinking a lot about my future lately and what I'm doing now to prepare for it. Is God pleased with how I'm living my teenage years? Am I doing "fun stuff" because I can and because there's "no real consequences to it" or am I trying my hardest to work hard for God so that I can be launched the right way, smoothly, into adulthood?
These are some convicting questions to think about. They're not that fun to think about either! I like to have fun as much as anyone else does, but sometimes I have to pass stuff up because it wouldn't have the greatest influence on me and my future. Habits are hard to break. They're hard to avoid! If you will try to live for God, (with God's help...we can't do anything on our own) He will honor that and help you out.
So! When you are about to jump into life, will you inch towards the edge of the board because you're afraid of how it will feel when you jump in, or will you run off the board because you know you've done your best and it won't be too difficult to face? Just a little something that I was thinking about and thought I'd share with you :)
If there are things you're involved in that you know aren't pleasing to God, it's never too late to ask God to help you break the habit. He can do all things! He wants to help you out too! Isn't it comforting that God cares about each and every one of our futures?! It's such a relief to me, and I hope that it is to you too!
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