"Go and find what it is that inspires you, go and find what it is that you love, and go do that until it hurts. Don't quit, don't give up. The reward is just around the corner. And in times of doubt or times of joy, listen for that still, small voice. Know that God has been there from the beginning, and He will be there until the end." -Chip and Joanna Gaines
There is a thought that I've recalled often this year---one that inadvertently came to me at a Wednesday night youth activity in the church building this past April. It was combined with both young men and women, and for one rotation of the activity, our group of vibrant youth nestled into the cheerful primary room to play a version of "Speed Dating"---only we called it "Speed Get to Know You." I was eager for this, as every girl should be when she's only two months away from turning sixteen. We rotated partners every minute to get a chance to interview all the other boys and girls with various questions. On the last rotation, as I sat directly across from a comely young man, I was prepared to answer him with jovial eloquence and honesty. The timer started ticking, and so did my heart as I waited for my partner to choose a question for me.
"Um," he began lowly, peering at the paper between his fingertips, "so, let's see. Oh, here's one---if you were a spirit animal, what would you be? And why?" I thought for a moment, staring into his inquisitive, brown eyes as if they'd give me the answer I was searching for. But after I crossed my legs and folded my hands like a dainty, proper girl, I smiled as the thought came to my mind from my heart.
"I would be a dove, because I think it would be so lovely to fly anywhere you'd like; to breathe with the wind and soar high above the rippling valleys beneath your wings. It sounds wonderful to fly freely through an unknown sky...." my voice trailed off as my thoughts took flight inside of me. "What about you?"
Before he could answer, the timer rang loud---and a good thing, too, for the young man across from me couldn't comprehend what I'd said. He only stared at me as if he'd been shot. He won't be my first date, I thought with a smirk.
Long after that night, I've recalled those intricate words I'd spoken. I've realized that though they left my lips in plain ambition, they've rang true to everything I feel and am considering now, as I've entered the middle-years of teen hood and am looking ahead to my very near future of growing up and taking flight in an unknown world I never thought would become a reality---a world that will take me soaring into the air.
It's a one-time event to learn how to fly, but to be able to soar is a lifelong process. In our rambunctious and cheerful lives, there are always moments when our circumstances of life change, just like the weather does when birds fly. There's always something each and every day that we either leave behind, or we cling to and take with us. Whether a time, a place, a person, an age, a dream, or an object, we embark through the adventure of learning how to soar with our new, changing destinies. At sixteen, I'm learning how to pass between childhood, and dip my feet in the common necessities of adulthood, and unlike being a painful, physical change or remodel, it is a glorious and trialing transformation that occurs in the deepest crevices of my soul, often kept and nestled between the secrets of God and me.
After recently finishing her book, Nearby, I grew to love Elizabeth Yate's analogy of the immense, beautiful change of growing up: the Eden of childhood and the Paradise of adulthood. I still reflect on the jovial imaginations she put into this new adventure that I am embracing each and every day.
"It is such a happy little world, so sweet and innocent, that Eden of childhood.... Its joys may be small, but then so are its sorrows. Such natural goodness abounds in it, yet step a little way out from it, and oh, the winds that blow and the long, long struggle! Things you never thought existed become drear realities. Evil appears to be grappled with. And there's no one to shelter you---no one anywhere, and in your lost playground there were so many! But gradually you grow strong enough to see what goodness really is, and your mind becomes wise enough to make your choice on the side of right.... it's hard to leave Eden. It's a wrench. Perhaps such a big one that some people never do leave it entirely. But the winds of Paradise are high winds, fresh and cold. They call you on; they do more than that---they force you on.... Childhood is a nice enough state for a while, but there's a stature to manhood and womanhood that's worth going through anything to attain."
I picture myself as a lark---passionate and longing for an ascend into a world that is so far away yet feels almost tangible. It's a world of growth; the precious growth that accompanies adulthood, a destiny where wings truly can fly and the winds that used to pull you back, can force you forward and higher until you're free enough to go anywhere; higher and higher until you're far above the clouds. But getting there is like a resounding melody, a dramatic tug of your heart.
To fly is to ascend and leave what's been so dear to you---in the bird's case, it's the nest. When you fly, you have to attempt to map an unexpected route you've never been before and face the uncertainties of the changing weather. And while it's so liberating, there's some violent drumming and cry of your heart that rips you back. No matter how much you long to feel the wind under your breast, those doubtful fears pulse your wings and you're desperate to return to the solid ground. But somehow when you find it, the longing to fly starts again, and you have no choice but to leap upwards into the sky again, no matter the struggle and how much it hurts. That flight is wretched at first, but, oh, when you find your rhythm and bound and embrace it more than you ever would have before, you begin to soar! The wind pushes you forward, and you rise to the most magnificent heights. You begin to realize that though you left the ground, it has shaped the view beneath you.
The Lord is teaching you how to soar, just like He's been teaching me. He's teaching you how to spread your wings and fly, no matter the struggle. In this perpetual journey, you have the choice to reach your paradise--your cause and destiny. You have the choice to embrace the wind, or not. The flight of a bird is wonderful, and so is ours. Open your wings and let God carry you to the freedom of your dreams.
"I think it would be so lovely to fly anywhere you'd like; to breathe with the wind and soar high above the rippling valleys beneath your wings. It sounds wonderful to fly freely through an unknown sky....
What about you?"
I am embracing the flight to my destiny....
Makenzie Monson
Comentários