When I was a child

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." I Corinthians 13:11

I thought of this verse today as I was listening to some music I hadn't heard in a long time. When I was a teenager I LOVED a group called "the Indigo Girls". They were a kind of indie/folksy sounding girl duet. They had GREAT harmony - that's what I really loved about them. They're voices matched mine and I could sing along to both of the parts and dig how I sounded. I even did a duet of one of their songs with a girl in my high school choir at the talent show at our school my senior year (we got a standing ovation!). I saw them in concert once, too, and had a tee shirt to prove it. I had almost all of their CD's and could sing along to every song.

As I've gotten older my ideals have changed and the lifestyle that the girls in that group represent is not something I want to promote to my children, so I choose not to listen to them anymore. I thought I had gotten rid of what I had of them, however, I came across one of their CDs yesterday when I was cleaning some things out and I felt like singing today, so I popped it in the player. As soon as the first song came on I knew it, both parts and all the words - but wait. Today as I sang the words, I actually LISTENED to them. See, I could sing the words before, but I wouldn't say that I KNEW them. This first song was titled "Closer to Fine" Some of the lyrics to the chorus really struck me: "I looked to the mountains, I looked to the children, there's more than one answer to these questions pointing me in a different line. The more I seek myself for some security, the closer I am to fine". There is ONLY one answer to our questions, it's Jesus Christ. I cannot seek myself for security, I am human. God is the one and only thing I can truly lean on and trust in. I'm sure the Indigo Girls have not figured that out. Based on their lifestyle and lyrics to the songs they write I can only assume they are lost.

So, today as I continue to attempt to Bloom where God has planted me I am reminded to put away my childish things. It is dangerous to think or speak like a child. It gets me nowhere to whine like a child about where I am, or to look with envy, like a child would, at another persons life. My prayer this evening is that I will become like a (wo)man as it says in that verse and just simply (or, not so simply) grow up. I am 34 years old, after all.