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:
*
***
Five things
I hope & pray that my
children
learn to consistently do well ...
***
*
- 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.
2. Make 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.
***
Happy 18th
Birthday, "D"!
**
*
picked out the perfect piece of apparel 
