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It REALLY annoys me when girls are sent the message that they're supposed to be shallow. You've probably noticed the expectation underlying all of teenage-girl-dom: "Just be cute and have fun!"
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There's nothing wrong with being cute or with having fun, but you were made for so much MORE than this, girls. I want more than this for you and, more importantly, your Maker designed you for more than this. You were made for the depths! You were made to be fascinated by greatness and glory and beauty and brilliance beyond your greatest imagination, and then to be transformed to reflect it. You were made, girls, to be amazed. You were made for God!! The fact that glitz and glamor attract us, the truth that sunsets take our breath away, the reality that we long for romance, all point to something very important about why you were created. You were made, as the psalmist expresses in Psalm 27 :4, to "gaze upon the beauty of the Lord all the days of your life."
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Sound boring? :) Then you haven't glimpsed Him yet. You haven't had your heart melted by His majesty yet. You haven't fallen head-over-heels in love with Him yet. There are greater depths for you to explore and enjoy in God than you have ever guessed. And girls.....NOW is the time to be fascinated by Him. Now is the time to chase after your Maker. Now is the time to fall deeply, passionately in love with your Savior. DON'T - PLEASE don't - waste your teenage years on other things. Yes, guys are cute. Yes, facebook quizzes are addicting. Yes, novels can keep you up all night. Yes, movies are entertaining. Yes, keeping the trendiest clothes in your closet can be a full-time hobby. Yes, sports and extra-curriculars can keep you crazy-busy. But don't settle for a life of ONLY, or even MOSTLY these things. The stereotype is that you will be shallow; that your thoughts and goals will be wrapped around being cute (and "cute" is an impossibly difficult standard to attain) and having fun (ooooh, we entertain ourselves so much...but is that what we were MADE for???). Reject the stereotype!! You were made for more than this. You were made to be amazed by God, and to be so in love with and fascinated by Him that it spills over in crazy, not-at-all-shallow ways in your life.
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Ok, so here's the assignment. In light of what I posted above, and in light of the cool quotes and verses below, tell me what you're thinking. In what ways, specifically, is it REALLY tempting to be shallow? What are the biggest life-wasters that teenage girls struggle with? What can be the most distracting for Christian girls? Why is it, do you think, that so few teenage girls recognize that only God can satisfy their hearts? And what will YOU do to begin chasing after this fascinating Maker/Savior/Warrior God that you were MADE to be amazed by? (Hint...start reading His Word and asking Him to amaze you. He will.) Email me at ashley.wollam@babfc.org with your 200-300 word response, and I'm going to schplice it all together and post your heartbeats. Y'all are awesome. :) Don't miss life.
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Quotes to get your mind whirring:
“The preoccupations of seventeen year old girls - their looks, their clothes, their social life - do not change very much from generation to generation. But in every generation there seem to be a few who make other choices. Amy was one of the few.” (Elizabeth Elliot in her book A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael)
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“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea.” C.S. Lewis
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"You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)
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"Once we had no delight in God, and Christ was just a vague historical figure. What we enjoyed was food and friendships and productivity and investments and vacations and hobbies and games and reading and shopping and sex and sports and art and TV and travel...but not God. He was an idea - even a good one - and a topic for discussion; but He was not a treasure of delight. Then something miraculous happened. It was like the opening of the eye of the blind during the golden dawn. First the stunned silence before the unspeakable beauty of holiness. Then a shock and terror that we had actually loved the darkness. Then the settling stillness of joy that this is the soul's end (purpose). The quest is over. We would give anything if we might be granted to live in the presence of this glory forever and ever. And then, faith - the confidence that Christ has made a way for me, a sinner, to live in his glorious fellowship forever, the confidence that if I come to God through Christ, he will give me the desire of my heart to share his holiness and behold his glory." John Piper in Desiring God
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Nuggets of Truth:
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One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
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"O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 63:1-8
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"You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand."
Psalm 16:11
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"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3
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"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:1-3
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These are just a few truths to draw you into the search for the Treasure (Jesus!), a search that will mean the not-shallow life that you were made to live NOW....now, as a teenage girl. Dive in. He will never bore you.
