Simplicity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3N3eMv0Dbc

The link above is to the song Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman. In it, he talks about watching his baby girl grow up and his everlasting love for her. When examining the lyrics, we see a small, innocent child grow into a strong and beautiful woman, but we only see this from the father's perspective. The side we don't see is that girl's stressful and confusing journey to womanhood.

Growing up as a girl in today's society is difficult. Not saying it's harder for girls than boys, but I believe there is a lot more pressure placed on a growing girl. Pressure as to who they should be, how they should dress, activities they need to do to be cool, and etc, etc, etc, and trying to grow up as a good Christian girl puts the icing on the cake. Trying to make decisions as to who you want to be and how you're going to live your life can get very confusing. The reason it gets so confusing is because God made everyone different, he made individuals who believe every person should be the same, some who believe no two people should act alike, and still others who don't really care what happens. All these voices from all different areas of the world...it's enough to drive a person to the point where the only thing to do is scream! Unfortunately, in the huge cacophony of clothing ads, make-up commercials, and gossip reality show is the soft whisper of God trying to lead her in the right direction.

Why can't life be just as easy as it was when we were six? Everything was given to us by our parents, we were never in want for food or shelter, friends didn't create drama, boys had cooties, and school was easy. Every boo-boo could be cured by Mommy's kiss, Disney had the answer to everything, and sharing your crayons or your toys with someone made them your best friend. Everything was much simpler and we got more naps. :) I love naps.

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." This reminds us to have the same mindset of a child, one who is completely dependent on their parents for everything that they have, and be completely dependent on our Heavenly Father. 


In saying this, Jesus confirms that it is possible to retain childhood while still gaining the experiences and wisdom gained by growing up. All we need to do is live our life how God intended us to and depend fully on Him. Just as a child would. 


So as I go through my college life, full of new experiences, new friends, learning how to live in the real world, new challenges, and new struggles, I will try to give my entire being to God and let him lead my life, and watch me grow into the same strong and beautiful woman from the song.