How to stay young??? In the world that we are living in today, people will do ANYTHING to try and stay young! They diet, they excercise, they have face lifts, tummy tucks, lipo, they dye their hair to cover the grays, they try and use makeup to cover wrinkles, They hang out at clubs, party, drive fancy cars, get drunk, get high, they wear clothes they shouldn't wear, they'll try just about ANYTHING to try and stay young, but NOT really obtaining their desire!!! But REALLY how can you STAY YOUNG???
.
This past week at A Mountain Apart Youth Camp, we all had some good laughs about my actual age and the fact that I was hanging out with people that were in reality, WAAAAAAAY younger than me!!! The last night, Sis. Devi walked into our room and was like WOW, you girl's is room is A MESS!!!
Without missing a beat Delora says, "Well YOU KNOW, its just a bunch of teenagers...
AND A 29-year-old...
that are staying in here!!!
Annnnnnnnnnd we all laughed really HARD!!! Buuuuuuuut it got me to thiinking about YOUTH!!! I mean, I know I was the oldest camper there, yet I didn't feel awkward or like I didn't fit in! The girls that I hung with the young people I was hanging out with the most, that I considered, the OLDER young people, were the ones that were 18, 19, 20, 21 year olds and then there was basically a HUUUUUUGE gap in the years to me...buuuuuuut I honestly didn't think about it when we were all goofing off and having fun together!!! I mean, despite the age difference, we were basically all at that same point in life. Graduated from high school, working a job, living for God, waiting and seeking the will of God for our lives...I understood and connected with them on the same level.
.
I mean, its NOT like i'm TOTALLY IMMATURE!!! Yeah, I was helping the girls in my room with stuff. Giving out guy advice, telling them not talk to guys if they're still to young, be respectful to your parent's, your AUNT'S...AHAHAHA... I helped them with their hair, outfits, let them borrow my accessories....buuuuuuuuuut yet they didnt relate me as they typical "ADULT" but more of as an older friend or big sister, and i'm fine with that!
.
Yet there are people that I meet that are waaaaaay younger than me, buuuuuuuuut they seem sooooo much older than me!!! Now if your married and in the church, this is OF COURSE expected, because there is a certain level of maturity that just COMES WITH MARRIAGE! When you get married your now supposed to act a certain way!!! And even MORE so when children come a long, however, there are people I meet that STILL without marriage, or children that just seem sooooo much OLDER than me. Annnnnd it got me to really thinking, WHY do I feel sooooo much younger than this person that doesn't live for God, when in reality i'm years older???
.
I realized that its just in that surrendering your life to God. The things of this world and SIN, they wear on you! Its like a weight on your shoulders and it drags you down. Buuuuuuut there is FREEDOM in living for God. Yeah, I may not have everything that I personally would like to have at this point in my life, buuuuuuuuuut, I'm submitted to the authority in my life, I'm committed to the will of God and not my own and because of THAT, God has KEPT ME!!!
.
Yeah, I'm mature and knowledgable, to some degree about life, I don't consider myself completely naive, buuuuuut I do believe that there is a certain innocence that remains in you when you abstain from sin and have kept yourself pure. Innocence is what you find in a child, yet it remains in you to some level when you live right. Yeah, I know that to SOME degree, the way that I am is because of my PERSONALITY and just the way that God made me, buuuuuuut I know that a lof of it has to do with surrendering my heart and life to the will of God!
.
BUUUUUUUUUUUT...I remember in my earlier 20's, when I was trying to do things on my own, NOT that I was living in sin, I just wasn't fully trusting in God and trying to MAKE MY WILL, God's will, I felt soooooo much OLDER...buuuuut not in a wise, way that naturally comes with age, but like a heavininess that wore on me and weighed me down. NOW, at almost 30, I can STILL throw my head back and giggle and laugh over the stupidest things, there is a bounce in my step and carefreeness that has been preserved and kept in my heart.
.
How do you stay young???
You don't need MAKEUP, you don't need surgery, you don't need teenage clothes or a fast car!!! If you want to stay YOUNG its simple,
JUST LIVE FOR GOD!!!!
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil: he shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.(Psalm 121:7-8)
♥Mary Frances :)
