compassion blog month: week one assignment

Today's blessing:
Productive mornings

What kind of blog month? Read my intro here.

As part of Compassion Blog Month, us Compassion Bloggers are given "assignments" each week. These are the best kind of assignments: the ones that get you thinking, but that you don't actually have to do if you don't want to. I'm a little behind, so I'm going to start with week one's assignment. I'll try to catch up later...maybe!

Write a blog post to your childhood self. What words of encouragement do you need to hear?

Hey Carrots!

Yes, that's what I called you. I know you say you're not about the drama, but you need to start living it. Believe it or not, you do not have all the answers. (Though you do have a lot of them. Don't be afraid to let your voice be heard more often!)

That red hair? You're going to stop hating it eventually, so you might as well start sooner rather than later.

Also, those plans that you have for your future? You know, where you decide to play God and dictate what your life is going to be like? HAHAHAHAHA! (At this point, I would not tell childhood self that she would eventually end up marrying a Lutheran pastor rather than the nice Catholic boy she thought, but that is what actually happened. Funny how you think you have things figured out...). God has another plan in store. It's way better than yours. Embrace it.

And one last thing...you're doing well. It's not always easy. There will be several boys who lead you on then decide they like your friends better. You're going to feel entitled to that solo in choir or that part in the musical, but guess what. You're not. You're not entitled to anything. It may hurt when you don't get something you think you deserve, something you've worked so hard for, but you will survive. It may even (sorry for the cliche) make you stronger. It's going to suck sometimes. You have an amazing support team around you: your parents, your amazing friends, and some pretty stellar teachers. Lean on them.

Keep it up. Your future is amazing - I've been there, and I'm loving it!

-You

This was kind of fun! I think the original assignment was to write a letter to your 11 year old self, but I geared it more towards my high school self. I needed to hear this more then than I did at 11!

You can be the voice of encouragement for a child in need right now. You may not be able to tell them exactly what their future holds, but you can tell them that they won't be fighting alone any more. You can tell them that there is hope, that they will eat tomorrow, and that they will get medical help if they need it. Click on the Compassion banner on the right hand side of this entry to learn more.