This song reminds me of my childhood.
Growing Pains
October 20, 2019
(You can click through to see all the pictures)
When I was little, every time my dad found he had a gray hair he would pluck it and put it in my hand. He would wrap my small, chubby hands around it, hiding it completely. It was as if somehow, he was magically turning back time. Now, if he plucked out every gray hair even more would come to replace it. My dad is not the only one who has aged. I have grown so much as well. Today, I turn eighteen. Although eighteen is a sentimental number in the sense that it doesn’t mark a pivotal change, it feels like the end of an era.This year does not just mark the end of my childhood. It marks the last year in this decade. Next year, the 20's begin. I have lived in two decades. Though that might not seem like a lot to older people, it's all I have lived, so it is a lot to me.
As I was looking through old pictures and reminiscing on my childhood, I was filled with nostalgia. I wonder if I will feel the same many years in the future when I think back on being a teenager or young adult. Not long ago, I was listening to a podcast where Dan Gilbert, an American philantropist, says, “human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.” It’s so hard to think about how much we will change in ten years, but it is easier to remember how different we were ten years in the past. This leads us to believe the person we are right now is the person we will always be. However, I know that I will continue to change just as I’ve changed so much in these eighteen years, but there are things that I want to keep.
Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those with childlike hearts. I want to remain with a heart like a child— no matter the time that passes or how old I grow, so here’s eighteen things I never want to lose:
Childlike wonder
Standing up again after falling
Telling stories and laughing
Innocence
Dreaming without limits
Enjoying the simple things in life
Deep respect, admiration, and love for my parents
Love for my sisters
Having a pure heart
Boundless creativity
Falling asleep easily
Compassion for strangers
Believing in myself
Feeling all my emotions fearlessly
Believing my intuition and what the Holy Spirit shows me
Making friends from strangers easily
Loving people without being afraid of getting hurt
A stubborn attitude when people want to make me betray my principles
Though I don’t fit in my parent's arms anymore, my baby teeth are long gone, and I am almost done with school, I am still a work in progress. I will always be a work in progress, and that is both encouraging and challenging. I hope I will learn as much in my next eighteen years as I have learned in the previous eighteen, and even more. I hope I will meet new people and strengthen my relationships with the ones I already know. I pray I will always be daringly dependent on God and fearlessly loving and compassionate towards others.
I encourage you to keep seeing your growth in the little things. You are still being shaped like a work of art. You are a work in progress, and your process is beautiful. Keep the good things you have learned in a bag for the journey, and keep your memories as a fire that will warm your heart in moments of solitude or pain. Everything changes, and you do, too. A new decade is coming, and though you are changing day by day, you might find surprises awaiting you soon.
Yours truly,
Isa
