Monday, February 13, 2012

a (love) "letter" to the future written in hindsight


Someone

 somewhere

 once said

Hindsight is always 20/20 vision.




Imagine how the time between then and now might have been different for you if, as you were standing on the threshold of your future (official adulthood), someone somewhere had given you a book full of answers to questions answered with something (an advantage!) you couldn't possibly have at that point. That being, hindsight.


Via a questionnaire, Playmaker recently interviewed several people who have been meaningfully involved in her boyfriend's life. Family. Friends. Pastor. Past Sunday School teacher. Among some rather heavy inquiries, she interspersed a few prompts that encouraged a bit of levity into the mix as well and compiled the responses she received along with photos, etc. into a scrapbook that she presented to "D" for his 18th Birthday. 


In "the end" Playmaker's "paperback" didn't quite contain 18 replies as she had intended, but her gift was beauty-full nonetheless - and a powerful work of he{art}. Especially considering the potential it possessed to shape the future. "D's" future and that of all whom his future choices will impact to varying degrees.  


Following are most of my answers to her questions. 

Please share a memory that comes to mind when you think of "D"?
I remember when you & your brother brought over your first Valentines gifts to Playmaker and "C"  :)   (my note:  that was 3 years ago) Hmmm – somewhere I have a pic of D.J. the stuffed monkey driving as we were heading to our camping trip w/ your family, the M's & S's  :)  ---- Oh – what d’ya know?! …  Here it is!  :)




If you could go back to when you were 18 years old ....

            what is one thing you would do differently?
Hmmm…I think just about everything! - except I’d marry the same guy all over again – and again – again!  :)

            what do you wish you knew then that you know now? 

I wish I had a much more in-depth understanding of God’s Word.

&

I wish I knew what real/true love is. Love as described in I Corinthians 13 is poetic to read about & easy to gloss over – but to really understand it/recognize it/live it is so counter culture/selfless/Christ-like and so amazing. 


What is one piece of practical wisdom you would like to share? 


It seems to me that the only thing we can truly control is how we respond to the events and circumstances around us.

&

Less is more on so many levels and the “American Dream” is not all it’s cracked up to be … it leads to a pretty selfish/self centered lifestyle.  I‘ve learned that life is so much more exciting when you are doing things - as opposed to having/accumulating & trying to pay off bills for things.



What is one piece of spiritual/Biblical wisdom you would share with "D"? 

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:5-7


Please share a personal favorite Bible verse / passage.
For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.   
What is one thing you admire about "D"? 


My note:  I broke the rule here and wrote more of a list :) 


Just for fun, if money wasn’t an option and you could give "D" one thing (material thing..could be small or could be BIG) that you wouldn’t want to live without, what would it be?
Hmmm. Well –  I can’t think of anything you really need that you don’t already have – so  – I guess I’d give you duct tape. In a pinch it fixes so many things that you do need  :)  … Remember how handy it came in when we were in Africa and I needed it for my shoe?! …and it came in very handy as a bandage  (well that was Gorilla tape … mb I’d give you that instead)  in St. John when I stepped on a Sea Urchin of all things. Ouch! …And Playmaker  used Gorilla tape for her shoe too when she went to Haiti. Hmmm…something tells me if I really did give it to you, you’d thank me for it eventually :)

Anything else you'd like to add (a personal message? a bit of humor? a word of wisdom? another Scripture? ... whatever! :)
Well, I think I’ll share some things I hope for my own children because I hope them for you too:
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Five things 
I hope & pray that my children 
learn to consistently do well ...


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 - tho' it seems that I, the one who should be teaching them, am a 'jack of all trades and master of none' here so I'm not quite sure how they're ever going to learn them from me.


1.    Live by the "Golden Rule" 

(- and if I could only teach them only one thing,
 this would be it.) 


28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
   29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”  Mark 12:28-31


I would love to be the one to teach my children to do this but in all honesty I'm still trying to figure out how to do it.  I will say though that it's amazing - how, even in my feeble attempts toward this end, I have a better understanding of how much God loves us (see John 3:16-21) and if that is all my children learn from me in this regard then I will know I've done something right. 


 2Make good choices

“We each leave our mark on the world every moment of every day,
by the choices we make and the actions we take.”

If you know me, you know that I'm convinced that choices, good or bad, and their consequences are the basic elements that living boils down to and when I consider the potential consequences of even one poor choice  - well ... enough said.


3. Do their personal best at whatever they put their mind to do 

To "just do your best" sounds so simple but to really do the best that one is capable of doing requires hard work.

31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, 
do it all for the glory of God.


 4. Be content with what they have

&  

5. Make nothing less than the best of whatever circumstances they find themselves in

If they can do these two things, they should be as happy as they can possibly be - at any given time.  


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Happy 18th Birthday, "D"!


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1 comment:

Mug said...

Beautiful! And thank you for your prompt comment on my "long-in-coming" post, MYstory:) I have missed you!