REFLECTIONS FOR A TEENAGE GIRL

These reflections were borne out of a conversation with my second oldest granddaughter, nearing her 17 birthday celebration and her soon coming start of college.

As I desired her to meditate on this I would, similarly, like to dedicate these thoughts to all those young promises that are starting to bloom, to all those very soon wonderful women to be.

Even if the joy we all experienced while sharing the pictures of her merry times with family and friends,

I consider that the concepts that formed the words because of my longing for a better future and consistency in their lives, are the real substance of my joy for the promise that already have started to transform itself in living entities,

as well as the pain and the sorrow for the mercantilist manipulation of the enthusiasm for the novelties and what is in their minds considered as sophistication.


The motivation for spelling out my considerations is my respect for the innate good and common sense imbedded by God in the conscience of every human being

and my desire to see these young girls and boys striving to find themselves and forge a future for their lives,

in their pursuing of the dream of becoming genuine, authentic, healthy and wholesome and conquering victors

in the challenging feat of confronting the future circumstances of their lives.

TO JUANITA AND IN HER, TO ALL THE YOUNG TEENAGER GIRLS OF THE WORLD

Life is not a rose garden without thorns! Probably you could say… Too many disappointments have already come by! Sure! There are many that have, could, and will pop up in your lives! Of every type! From every source! In any circumstance!

But what is totally illogical and absurd is a young girl wasting their life and renouncing to her right to a future, no matter how immature we could believe she is, because of the rampant alienation and systematic destruction of everything that could smell to social value and personal and positive identity and integrity

We cannot keep on allowing as a routine and everyday news, undeserving of any particular concern or consideration, the red note reports of abandonment, rejection or abuse. it is lacerating and painful the daily spectacle of so many vivential clowns who at the top of their shouts proclaim as indispensable the impossible dreams and placebo solutions for the bleeding remnants tossed aside by uncontrolled and immeasurable materialistic ambitions.

Because the real innocent victims are not only the present ones but also the new ones to come! Because if we consider ourselves victims we are victims only of our own inconsequence! But what about them? What about all those youngsters, male and female, irresponsible and immature who have been already robbed of their innocence, first by the alienation and the widely publicized and promoted consuming consumism and its consequent if not inevitable and in every case shameful emotional and even physical individual and collective rape.

It is a regrettable, inacceptable and shameful attitude even if already a customary one both in the media and in the majority of the bystanding people, because of its innuendo of indifference and tediousness if not of morbid curiosity, the comments about the tragic circumstance of a young and immature teenager throwing herself over a cliff because of a more immature boy, just because of her, feeling depressed and disappointed by his rejection

It hurts too deeply to read the newspapers headlines reporting. In my grandparent´s eyes and understanding there is no justification to just expose such an unnecessary tragedy. It would be so much worthier for all those who consider themselves the pillars of society, to dedicate themselves to the betterment of the integral well being of all the young lives around, starting logically with their own homes, to stop the spreading around of the pervasive example of so many “little spoiled brats and sons and daughters of daddies” who show themselves without shame on so many reality shows and wild on TV episodes.

What we all should do is to encourage their self-esteem in every one of our youngsters, our own and those around, especially in our young girl teenagers, incessantly and exhaustively insisting with our boys so they imprint in their mind, spirit and emotions the need to understand, assimilate and make it their own, what a real manhood is and what the real purpose in life every man is called for to fulfill.

Because everything in life is a challenge to overcome and not and ineludible condemnation, egotistical convenience or failure! Because everything is possible if we have God in our hearts and we face life with energy, optimism, determination and clear conscience.

To you, Juanita, and in you to all the young girls of this world…

Learn to choose! Do not resign yourself to be just manipulated and chosen by undeserving and unworthy of this world!
Remember that you are God´s daughter, and imprint in the innermost part of yourself that you are the apple of His eyes and that you deserve a future where you can be capable to express and transmit all the good that you have within as well as the right to be appreciated, respected and loved by the partners of your lives to be, leaving aside and behind the irresponsible, the insecure, the immature ones, without consideration to their social standing and style

ABOUT DESTINY, HOPES AND FEARS

BUT THANKS GOD! THAT WE CAN ALWAYS COUNT WITH YOU!

Our journey laboriously trundles over the hazardous paths of this earth

Our fears keep on nagging all through the darkest hours of the nights

But our hopes are placed on your promises

And our destiny is the heavenly times we will eternally spend in total communion with You.

ABOUT DESTINY, HOPES AND FEARS

Ascertaining who you are in God´s eyes and will!

Deciding who you want to be… when no one is around!

Usually people fear death, either in its natural form of departure from life or as isolation or rejection by their peers and because of it they end up letting enter in their lives the fear of life by not daring to stand up, firm, in their convictions, just for the sake of seeking acceptance from exacting peers who manipulate their aspiration to be another member of the gang, without mattering what type of gang it is… social, political, financial, religious or whatever fad is in fashion at the time being.

And for these understandable but not acceptable reasons people tend to compromise or rationalize their beliefs, their moral values, their convictions and their loyalties…

And sorrier than anything else is when their livelihood depends on the whims or shortsightedness of people who feel like life or death decision makers… Just because by a fortuitous or “sought after” turn of events they become appointed to apparent limelight positions or because they have been accepted as the leaders of some human “dominion or control” fiefdom on this earth.

Humans love to build up their little fiefdoms, their little kingdoms, and their little controlling and dominion scenarios. They feel themselves like kings of the roads, happily or anxiously immersed in their insignificant dealings and wheelings even in what should be the important service on behalf of the Lord, where qualifications, size and nature do not matter but motivations and willingness and where unselfishness is the vital part of the service so we can positively reach the suffering and the needy.

God´s plans for us are neither our personal aggrandizement nor our Christian posturing in life… Not even if we are indispensable for a while in terms of leading the seeding or putting our hands on the plow… but to show in our weakness and inadequacy His incomparable strength and wisdom as well as His generosity and mercy.

We should have always in mind and indelibly printed on our hearts what the Lord tell us in Second Samuel 14:14… “For we shall surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one may not be cast out from him”.

And if the Lord does not cast away or refuses to accept the uncomfortable and hard to understand outcasts… Why should we?

One thing I have learned along the way. We should not have to fear the world, nor death, nor life, nor compulsory compliance with any human group or endeavor. WHAT WE MUST HAVE IS TO HAVE “FEAR OF GOD” A REAL ONE! A HEALTHY, PURIFIED AND RIGHTEOUS ONE! BY FEAR MEANING THE DEEPEST RECOGNITION OF HIS GRACE AND OUR TOTAL DEPENDENCY ON HIM! AND THE DEEPEST GRATEFULNESS FOR HIS TAKING CARE OF US, PRESERVING OUR LIVES FOR GREATER TASKS AND CHALLENGES IN HIS SERVICE!

Because this is the only way we can be of any use, of any good, on His behalf while we labor in the advancement of His Kingdom. And as we walk along the way, we cannot but be, at the same time vertical and uncompromising in our beliefs… Tolerantly understanding the reality of ours and other people´s weaknesses, but not appeasing the unrighteousness just because of it.

Because if we do so we will just miss the opportunity that allows us to become effective prayer warriors, Especially when we state that we are committed to a Christian Way of Living… Avoiding at all costs to turn it into a material and convenient Livelihood that distorts and irremediably contaminates the purity and the righteousness of our thoughts, feelings, purposes, deeds and actions

About marriage, family and life…!

Life when lived to its fullest extent is not a fairy tale. It is made of circumstances and people as well. Both of them are so varied in structure and content and this is the most wonderful example of a vivential fabric that resists all adversities and challenges.

And the basic foundation of all this is the family that started by the junction of two individual lives, a man and a woman, united in love in the ups and downs of their living together and their raising of children now turn into men who altogether with the new women in their lives continue extending such a fabric throughout generations and new developing circumstances.

The uniqueness even if repeatedly present in every family founded on Christian moral values and under God´s protection, is the blending of two different personalities.

God has not made clones. He joins different upbringings and different perspectives and understanding of life, making of it the resilient net where the hardships of life, intermingled with the pleasures, successes and accomplishments bounce in a merry and at times a not so merry go round.

A bouncing that makes us remember the children´s chorus of the one hundred elephants jumping over a delicate spider web, hung between the branches of the human and divine love that allowed its forming in the first place.

God blesses and He blesses a lot. He had done so to us because He knew in His omniscience that we would badly need it to endure and overcome the trials that come our way and do make our walking a never ending unpredictable journey.

And trials we have had! Trials we presently endure while we hope they will end soon. Because we trust, because we hope, because we wait for the time of the Lord!

It is as I said not a fairy tale but a vivid one representing the outcome of our love. It is not a tale of serene placidity but a building up of a family out of two different upbringings and perspectives.

We only hope that your lives, dear sons and families, dear friends and acquaintances could be as ours so in your later days you be able to sit back, smile and joke about what it was, about what it could have been, and about what it will probably be until we are finally called to our final rest.

C´EST SI BON! IT IS GOOD!

It is good and feels good to be asked on the metro bus to give your seat to another guy who looked older than you, and then find out that he is only 55 years old while you still are only 71 out of the wonderful 104 of the young ones at heart.

C´EST SI BON! IT IS GOOD!

IT IS AND FEELS SO GOOD TO HAVE A LOVING PARTNER BESIDE YOU FOR ALREADY 47 YEARS AND ONLY GOD KNOWS HOW MANY MORE!

A TIME TO REST

About visions… missions… and resting in between…

We have entered into the seventies… Apparently we have retired again. But this is only a resting time in between…

A new vision is looming over the horizon… A vision given to Gary Adams, a dear missionary, pastor and friend! It is just a matter of knowing when the time to start walking again will come… We are sure the trumpet will resound again!

He saw a vast, hot and dusty plain and a mountain range far away with a rank of newly drafted young soldiers marching on Their uniforms were crisp and clean, Their weapons clean and shiny, But no ranking officers on sight. A veteran! His weapon obviously battle tested A veteran! His weapon obviously battle tested
His appearance began to change. His uniform became crisp and clean; he no longer limped, but rather had a spring in his step… His face was now clean shaven, expectancy reflected in his countenance while the soldiers watched solemnly but respectfully as he marched onward.
Suddenly, his rank could be seen A General! Moving to the front of the ranks (his rightful place) and leading those troops from that time on.
Then… many other “ranking officers” moved out from the rear and began to follow him experiencing the same transformation as the General had. Each received a new commission and was placed strategically among the troops.

And in agreement with Gary´s vision as many others I am sure, we say Apparently we have retired again… But it is only a resting time in between…

LIFE IS JUST A PROCESS

Where there is a beginning working towards an end.

Where God has placed goals and destinations but men usually stumble upon pebbles, rocks, detours and crossroads, losing time and energies, wasting the opportunities that will take them ahead.

Life is a beautiful garden where besides the flowers stand the cactuses as well.

And where... Life, thanks God, in his mercy, can provide you with second, third and only He knows how many opportunities to restore and re-route our way.