Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Maybe {Growing Up Isn't Easy}

     'Maybe my parents don't have to be happy with all the choices that I make in life.  Maybe they don’t have to agree with all of them either.'  I think this as I drive toward a friend’s house after having just left my home where my parents made it plain that they didn’t agree with a choice that I had made. 

     Their disapproval stung and as I left the driveway I imagined their thoughts;  'We raised her better than that', 'what does she do when she's not around us', 'what will she do when she lives on her own'? 

     As I drove down the road, ashamed, wondering if I should go back, apologize to them and recant my choice, a thought echoed in my mind, 'Maybe my  parents don't have to be happy with all the choices that I make in life’ and then, the part that came after that, 'and that's OK!'

     I am not my parents.  I am not called to embrace the same choices and opinions that they have chosen to observe.  And that's OK.  Even though they don’t agree with me and even though they may not think that I’m living “right”, it REALLY is OK. 

   Pulling away from the belief system that raised me is hard.  It becomes even harder when I begin to realize that my parents & the people that I grew up with aren’t always going to agree with my life.  It's hard when they think that I'm not doing “right” and that I’m not “in God’s will”.  I won't lie and say it's easy.  It makes me feel like I should stop the things that I do and conform to their beliefs and opinions so that they'll approve of my choices; however, I can't do that.  It would be cheating myself since I know that who I am and the things that I’m choosing are the path that God has for me.

  I don't want to live to please any person.  Not my parents, not my best friend, not the church I attend and not the world that I live in.  I want to live to please Jesus Christ, the man who is also God, who gave His life for mine and who loves me just as I am.


1 comment:

  1. I totally understand. It is very hard for me to make my own choices and go away from the way I was raised, but it is the right thing for me to do. I can't live my life under someone else's beliefs. I am 35 and it is still hard! :)
    (-Amber)

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