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The things we believe as children slowly and surely crumble as we reach adulthood. When we were younger we had all of these visions of what life would be like once we could finally break free from the chains of high school and having to clean our messy rooms before we got to spend weekends and after school afternoons with the people we considered our very best of friends. Life would become free and exciting and maybe we would even marry the man or woman of our dreams and live a life free of cares and filled with bliss. We were DYING to call the shots in our own lives and the worst drama we dealt with usually involved misunderstandings between friends or waking up with acne or feeling to awkward to fit in with the crowds that were the "cool people".

Do you know what the sad truth is? Things are never the way they seem to be. School? Some days I would give anything to be back in my text books. 9:00-3:00 just learning new things, how easy is that! No bills to pay, no time clock to punch, no dealing with rude inconsiderate customers demanding their needs be met with no regard of how your day might be going...

What about our friends? How many people from high school are still actually friends? Maybe some, but unfortunately, the older we get the more we realize most of those people we considered "best friends" really don't care where we are today and what we are doing with our lives. Were there any real foundations to the relationships we had or did we simply share the same hormones and crushes with a constant passion to grow up and become something amazing? Did they ever actually care or was their interest only in having someone around to ward off boredom?

Freedom isn't really something one gains as an adult. Quite the opposite actually. As a teen what were we responsible to pay for? Our first car maybe, insurance on said car? The real world demands a steady flow of cash.Taxes, groceries, rent, car maintenance and insurance, utilities, property taxes, mortgages, gas money, health insurance, dental bills, student loans... the list goes on! Remember when you could pay for a haircut every month if you wanted one? Try only affording one a year. Money doesn't simply materialize. We have to work your ass off if you want to have the things you need. Screw what we want because that isn't what we save our money for anymore. We save or money in-case our car breaks down or the furnace breaks. Responsibility multiplies after high school.

We certainly tend to have a warped view on marriage. Those of us who were blessed enough to have parents that modeled a healthy marriage probably assumed Disney was right about relationships. Men were portrayed and flawless, fearless, completely ripped practical superheros that weren't only romantic but also knew how to meet every single need of their beloved woman. Women were portrayed as being incomplete until they found the man of their dreams and he completed them! Of course everyone ALWAYS lived happily ever after... Sorry but, may I please call bullshit? In the last year I personally have known two couples that have divorced (one after eight years of marriage and one after over twenty years of marriage), one couple that are living intensely unhappy lives because what they once were in agreement on criticle things and they are no longer, one husband who left his wife and three kids because he wanted something more for himself, a couple of near ten years that split after an affair, and a couple of five years that split for reasons I only know half of. MARRIAGES ARE BEING DESTROYED. I used to think it was possible for a couple to stay happy, but... is it? Who do I look to as an example when every marriage I see is crumbling? I have an amazing husband and I love the hell out of him. Marriage has been the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. Responsibility is heightened because I am no longer responsible for just myself. But can we assume the hard things will really get easier? I am happy to say I married someone who is fully committed to working through any obstacle, but that doesn't mean everyone else is. We tend to think our lives won't come with struggles and bumps along the way. Maybe that's why so many people are divorced or refuse to get married. We were all lied to by the fairy tale endings that sell so many books and movies.

So what do we do with the harsh realities of the real world? Rushing into the real world without long and hard preparation can be disastrous for some of us. Having faith in humanity will definitely be disastrous. Assuming things get easier with result in one gigantic bitch slap to the face from reality. Thinking love is what will complete you will cause you to be unhappy with anyone you end up with. (Before I met my husband I had to learn what contentment and happiness were. He just adds the extra happy )

My advice? Find joy in the little things and be happy on your own before you think someone else can do it for you. Not everything sucks. Sometime life isn't how we expect it. But is it such a bad thing? Would we really want to get ourselves ready for heaven if this place didn't suck? If we really had comfortable lives...would we think doing God's work was important? Probably not. Should we accept only good things from God? If we truly believe our lives here are nothing but a breath, why do we worry about them SO much? And why do we expect them to be dream fufilling? We will never find what we're looking for here, but we can "stop to smell the roses" along the way. I have learned only God is reliable. And that is a good lesson. Now I can't possibly think anyone else can take care of me or be 100% trustworthy and therefore I can put no one in Gods place. Suffering is good because it produces perseverance which in turn produces character.

Stop expecting this world to be everything. It never will be. Have faith in the unseen and look forward to what Jesus promised us. Forever with Him...Happily ever after? I think, yes.

:) (Smile) — Description

The things we believe as children slowly and surely crumble as we reach adulthood. When we were younger we had all of these visions of what life would be like once we could finally break free from the chains of high school and having to clean our messy rooms before we got to spend weekends and after school afternoons with the people we considered our very best of friends. Life would become free and exciting and maybe we would even marry the man or woman of our dreams and live a life free of cares and filled with bliss. We were DYING to call the shots in our own lives and the worst drama we dealt with usually involved misunderstandings between friends or waking up with acne or feeling to awkward to fit in with the crowds that were the "cool people".

Do you know what the sad truth is? Things are never the way they seem to be. School? Some days I would give anything to be back in my text books. 9:00-3:00 just learning new things, how easy is that! No bills to pay, no time clock to punch, no dealing with rude inconsiderate customers demanding their needs be met with no regard of how your day might be going...

What about our friends? How many people from high school are still actually friends? Maybe some, but unfortunately, the older we get the more we realize most of those people we considered "best friends" really don't care where we are today and what we are doing with our lives. Were there any real foundations to the relationships we had or did we simply share the same hormones and crushes with a constant passion to grow up and become something amazing? Did they ever actually care or was their interest only in having someone around to ward off boredom?

Freedom isn't really something one gains as an adult. Quite the opposite actually. As a teen what were we responsible to pay for? Our first car maybe, insurance on said car? The real world demands a steady flow of cash.Taxes, groceries, rent, car maintenance and insurance, utilities, property taxes, mortgages, gas money, health insurance, dental bills, student loans... the list goes on! Remember when you could pay for a haircut every month if you wanted one? Try only affording one a year. Money doesn't simply materialize. We have to work your ass off if you want to have the things you need. Screw what we want because that isn't what we save our money for anymore. We save or money in-case our car breaks down or the furnace breaks. Responsibility multiplies after high school.

We certainly tend to have a warped view on marriage. Those of us who were blessed enough to have parents that modeled a healthy marriage probably assumed Disney was right about relationships. Men were portrayed and flawless, fearless, completely ripped practical superheros that weren't only romantic but also knew how to meet every single need of their beloved woman. Women were portrayed as being incomplete until they found the man of their dreams and he completed them! Of course everyone ALWAYS lived happily ever after... Sorry but, may I please call bullshit? In the last year I personally have known two couples that have divorced (one after eight years of marriage and one after over twenty years of marriage), one couple that are living intensely unhappy lives because what they once were in agreement on criticle things and they are no longer, one husband who left his wife and three kids because he wanted something more for himself, a couple of near ten years that split after an affair, and a couple of five years that split for reasons I only know half of. MARRIAGES ARE BEING DESTROYED. I used to think it was possible for a couple to stay happy, but... is it? Who do I look to as an example when every marriage I see is crumbling? I have an amazing husband and I love the hell out of him. Marriage has been the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. Responsibility is heightened because I am no longer responsible for just myself. But can we assume the hard things will really get easier? I am happy to say I married someone who is fully committed to working through any obstacle, but that doesn't mean everyone else is. We tend to think our lives won't come with struggles and bumps along the way. Maybe that's why so many people are divorced or refuse to get married. We were all lied to by the fairy tale endings that sell so many books and movies.

So what do we do with the harsh realities of the real world? Rushing into the real world without long and hard preparation can be disastrous for some of us. Having faith in humanity will definitely be disastrous. Assuming things get easier with result in one gigantic bitch slap to the face from reality. Thinking love is what will complete you will cause you to be unhappy with anyone you end up with. (Before I met my husband I had to learn what contentment and happiness were. He just adds the extra happy )

My advice? Find joy in the little things and be happy on your own before you think someone else can do it for you. Not everything sucks. Sometime life isn't how we expect it. But is it such a bad thing? Would we really want to get ourselves ready for heaven if this place didn't suck? If we really had comfortable lives...would we think doing God's work was important? Probably not. Should we accept only good things from God? If we truly believe our lives here are nothing but a breath, why do we worry about them SO much? And why do we expect them to be dream fufilling? We will never find what we're looking for here, but we can "stop to smell the roses" along the way. I have learned only God is reliable. And that is a good lesson. Now I can't possibly think anyone else can take care of me or be 100% trustworthy and therefore I can put no one in Gods place. Suffering is good because it produces perseverance which in turn produces character.

Stop expecting this world to be everything. It never will be. Have faith in the unseen and look forward to what Jesus promised us. Forever with Him...Happily ever after? I think, yes.