Life

I don't care how many times someone has told me "high school flies by" or "senior year goes by with the blink of an eye" Ir is impossible to realize this until you are in the midst of it. Right now in my life I am not sure of a lot of things but I am sure of that. Everyone says they feel like walking into school and being yelled "FOUR MORE YEARS" in their faces feels like yesterday. Quite frankly, my memory is AWFUL and I don't specifically remember such things.

Quick Flashback to my first day of my freshman year:
Wake up, phone breaks
Get dressed, favorite sandals break
Loose my schedule (thank the lord for my mom who made copies), and then late to my carpool
Need I go on...probably not

Needless to say, things have gotten so much better since then. I would not trade my last 3 years at Riverside High School for the world. Every late night doing homework, every spirit week, every awkward moment, every laugh and every cry. And believe me I am basically an emotional wreck so there has been several cries...So here are my latest thoughts and what I have learned, not necessarily advice..but here I go.

Not going to lie, I jumped right into high school. Sports, good grades, student council, family, church, Younglife, FCA, BETA CLUB...basically you name a club I have been in it...then eat, sleep, run, school repeat.... I basically prided myself in how many things I could squeeze in one day. Trying to figure out life on your own is EXHAUSTING. Trying to make yourself happy by filling your schedule does not work. I will tell ya that. I know everyone does not live like that... I realize other people don't enjoy making spirit week banners in their free time or designing Class T-shirts. Other people try to fill their lives with other things...boys, drugs, alcohol, etc... we are all different and lead different lives, that is just life.
The theme or common denominator here is that High School truly is the time in our lives where we are trying to figure out who we truly are. We fill our lives with all sorts of different things in order to try to figure out who we are...and let me tell ya NONE of these things I have previously listed will fulfill you for about more than a day or maybe a week.
Not ONE  person, not even yourself is going to remember how many clubs you were in, or what your grade was in a class by the end of this school year...let alone 10 years down the road.
What people do remember is memories with you, the times you laughed together, cried together, prayed together, played together, partied together what have you. If there is one thing I have learned from life it is that there are about 3 important things to know:

1) God loves you
2) Our purpose in this life is to go out and love others, as God loves us, and serve them as well
3) We can only do this is if we trust in God and love OURSELVES first

Just to backtrack..this summer at Younglife's Crooked Creek Ranch...our speaker spoke several times about our life as a glove. We try to fill our lives with things (mentioned above) to fit in our glove. These things truly just don't. I am not out to beat anyone on the head, and you just have to figure this out for yourself someday...but we can't fill our glove. God made us to fit perfectly in our glove as we are, He has a plan that is greater than one we could EVER come up with. I can't say I always remember this 100% time, but if I learned one thing this summer at CCR it is that.Also, can;'t say enough grand things about Younglife. I love my leader Kathleen, homegurl has my back. Also the organization just simply shows you the love of God through amazing people. One of my BEST high school decisions, DO YOUNGLIFE.

So yes...
1) God loves you...he sent his son to die on a Cross so we could have eternal life. WOW ok.
He created us all, beautiful in such different ways to love eachother and interact in his beautiful creation. WOWEE. So each day we are to pick up our own crosses, our burdens, our worries, our insecurities and wear them proudly becasuse HECK YEAH WE WERE MADE THAT WAY. We are to live out our lives to the fullest every day...
I especially struggle with worrying,..This summer I had a lot of time to stop and think. Worrying is so silly when your life already has a plan greater and better and awesomer than I could imagine... So then why the hecking do I worry? Because I am not perfect, I am human, I am stupid and wierd sometimes..
So one thing I know for sure DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY (cheesy but true)
God's plan is greater than ours...He :loves us so that we can change, we never have to change for him to love us. Change is good, but scary, but still good. I am now trying to realize that.
2) LOVE others. As I touched on earlier. no one will remember you by a club or sport or GPA...but how you treated them honestly. We were put on this earth to constantly love and encourage others. Never in my life have I been as happy as when I help someone or watch someone I love do something awesome (100000000x better than any self accomplishment)..like watching one of my very favorite cross country/track friends win the state 4x8 was a tear jerker...even more so when one of them won the 2 mile the next day..boring running talk I know. But seriously, I may not love running so much,
but some of the gals and guys I have met through high school sports are truly THE BEST.
Get involved with a high school sport...No RAGRETS there...not even one letter...
Serving others is so very rewarding, volunteering is great, just simply opening the door for someone or flashing them a smile or asking "How are you?" is so great. Investing in other people is so rewarding.
Student Council has taught me so much about serving. Serving should be done ONLY from the goodness of your own heart. Nothing makes me happier then to see a smile on someone's face at a fun spirit week event, or the even brighter smile of a make-a-wish child who we had just provided money for to go to Disneyworld...life changing stuff.
So, love all. serve all, create NO sorrow.
Think before you speak, even the most sarcastic and innocent jokes can make negative impacts on people that they will never forget, negative comments stick with people, more than you would think.
Live every day as a constant effort to life people up, not bring them down.

3) All this is great. life is great. So much out there...so scary...such an unknown time of change and wierdness for me. Friends leaving for college, me doing college apps, etc. But I REFUSE from here on out to get caught up in that. This is also an exciting time, a time for growth, change, AWESOMENESS...
I get to live out my life for Christ every day with amazing friends, family, and school. Two of my best guy friends get to be the school warrior MASCOT (tears of joy) #WarriorNationforlife... There is so much to be happy about. This year I just would love to stay grounded, humble, grateful, and energetic/positive about my life. Because it rocks- all the lows are ALWAYS outnumbered and squashed by the highs. 
But loving yourself because you know God's love for you is KEY,CRUCIAL, SO Important.
Throw yourself out there, NEVER BE EMBARRASSED. Embrace who you are, every stinkin part of Y-O-U. Don't compare/contrast yourself to others..In the words of Dr. Seuss "You are you, that is true (somethin) there is no other person that is YOU-er than YOU.
LOVE YOURSELF always allday errday...24/7...365

DO BIG THINGS
I could not be more excited for the year ahead of me...so ready..yet so not...this post may not have any sense, but ya know life just doesn't make sense either.

Peace and Blessings,
A very tired and crazy Erin Woods