"It's Not Fair"

My basketball team has never had girls that made you shake in your boots. They have always been short (besides me) and tiny. And as you can probably guess we have had problems with our attitudes once or twice. "It's not faaaaaaair. They're so much bigger than us!" Every game when the other team would walk in we would all cower in fear as we saw how unfit we were to play. But this year one of our coaches thought ahead.

In our first practice Coach Moore sat us all down and used his communications degree to convince us of the deep message behind Brad Pitt's incredible acting in Troy. And although I will never admit this to him, Coach Moore taught us something that day that I will always take with me. Coach Moore told us that Brad Pitt, who was playing Achilles in the Trojan War was supposed to fight this huge giant. And this was the conversation between Achilles and a young messenger boy when Achilles was about to leave for battle.

Messenger Boy: Are the stories true? They say your mother was an immortal godess. They say you can't be killed.
Achilles: I wouldn't be bothering with the shield then, would I?
Messenger Boy: The Thesselonian you're fighting... he's the biggest man I've ever seen. I wouldn't want to fight him.
Achilles: Thats why no-one will remember your name.

 For the rest of the season we always thought back to this story, rather than freaking out about the size of the other girls we started focusing on what we could do to better ourselves. And we had a pretty great season.

We realized that in order to be great, and for anyone to ever remember our name, we would have to fight without hesitation. We don't have to fight without fear, another part of the movie someone asked Achilles if he was nervous, he replied simply, "Petrified."

I think about this story almost on a daily basis when I go to school and sit down to start at work. I have already finished all of my freshman classes and have started most of my sophomore classes. Doing work so far ahead can be really daunting and it's hard to remember that I am capable of doing all of it. As soon as I start to think, "This isn't fair." I take a step back and think about the fact that if I ever want to be remembered I won't  think of it as fair, but an advantage.

Can you imagine living the life of a legacy like David or Peter? People so in-tune with God and His power. It's hard to remember why you do all of this work. The truth is, Nobody ever said that life was fair, it's really not. There are bad people in the world, they will make your life harder, but it's your decision how you act toward them.

So when you have three or four hours of homework every night, remember that there is someone, somewhere who has none and they have nothing to complain about, but nobody will remember them. Every time you face something that seems impossible, that is a chance for you to prove to the world that it's not. Give hope to the people behind you, make things look easy, don't boast. Complete the task and move on to the next, trust me, you will be rewarded.

I understand that this doesn't really explain how to get through situations that don't seem fair. But the most important part of every solution is your attitude while resolving a problem. When you have a good attitude, it's easier and more fun to do the hard things. There are things in life that you simply have to do but when you're willing to do it, the "have tos" become "want tos".

⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
    you will eat the best from the land.
²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel,
    you will be destroyed by swords.”
    The Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 1:19-20

When you are willing and obedient you get the best. Being willing is not complaining, or talking about how you shouldn't have to do it. 

In the end, when you are being cheerful about the hard things, the time spent working seems much shorter than the time being blessed for your obedience.

Peace out Broskies!

What Do You Wanna BE?

Everyone always asks me, "Delaney, what do you want to be when you grow up?" So here it is...

Growing up most people have this great idea planned for their life. But for some reason when they start looking at colleges and careers they decide that maybe they can settle for less. Why would you ever decide to make your life any less than the best? Maybe it comes from the lack of confidence or maturity. Or maybe, just maybe, it comes from feeling like you have some control over what your life is going to be for so long, then realizing that you really don't want that control.

The thing about control is that there is always something that is uncontrollable. There is always an outside force that makes you realize how little control you really have. You can "control" a car, but you can't control whether or not that car backfires. I have never seen a car with a "no backfire" button next to the AC controls. Of course you can take precautions that will most likely prevent that from happening, but when you get right down to it, there isn't much you can do other than be a intelligent car owner.

Although this all seems very depressing there is one factor in life that I haven't mentioned yet, and that is the Creator.

 The preparations of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

² All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
But the Lord weighs the spirits.

³ Commit your works to the Lord,
And your thoughts will be established.

 Proverbs 16:1-3

When you're in high school you are pressured to decide so many things even though you are only a teenager. It was only a few years ago that our gender counterparts had cooties. But when you realize that you really don't have to do anything alone you become reassured.

One thing that I believe is important for everyone to realize is that God is not in control of you. Everything that happens in your life is because of the decisions that you make. But when you trust in God and obey his will you are in line with his will for you. When God created us he wanted us to have free will or we would just be robots praising him, he wanted to see us happy, but because we are sometimes foolish we have chosen the wrong things sometimes and that is why we can be unhappy. 

My dad loves me so much and I know that he only wants the best for me. He warns me when I do something dangerous, and because I believe that I know best he has to sit back and watch me fall. But I know that my daddy will always be there for me when I get hurt, and he will comfort me and not be condescending. That is exactly how God feels about each of us. Not only with sinning, but when we make poor decisions for our future. But not only does he comfort us, he creates a new perfect plan, he understands that through this free will, we will make mistakes and he uses his grace to help us.

⁸ Better is a little with righteousness,
Than vast revenues without justice

Proverbs 16:8 

What I get from this is that when we do what is good and right in God's eyes we will have so much more success than if we do what is good and right in our own eyes. That is a hard pill to swallow. We want to do great things with out lives, it's human nature to want the best possible for our life.Only God knows. Rather than worrying about what is gonna happen after college, trust in the Lord, obey his commands and strive to live a God-centered life. 


So, back to the question of, "Delaney, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

I want to be the woman that God has planned for me. I'm not completely sure what or who that is yet, but I know that I will find out soon. So, this is my journey though high school.