Perspectives & All That Jazz...

Perspectives.
This word seems to be popping up everywhere these past couple weeks, if not months. And if you have kept up with this blog, I believe in my last post I mentioned the "Perspectives" project our class will be working on for the next four months preparing us for high school, growing up, all that fun stuff...preparing us, potentially, for life(which is HUGE...we're only 8th graders, remember?)

Along the lines of the project, things regarding it will soon start jam-packing our schedules at school, switching around our normal classes for time to work on all the papers, boards, assignments, etc... all to make time for this thing. It'll be worth it, though.

Our class is ready to grow up. This is plain as day...

Half of the time we're mature, and then half the time...alright, more than half the time we're the total opposite of mature and laugh about anything we hear or see. Which doesn't really qualify as immaturity, but... you just have to see us to understand it all.
So yes... we could definitely become a bit more mature before we face those oh-so-intimidating doors of the high school building right across campus while "Fifteen" rings through my ears...

Besides the mature part, our class seems to love drama... and this isn't along the lines of "Romeo and Juliet" drama. This is more along the fine line of "I think he likes me..." "Uhhh, no. He likes me." Or most commonly, "Woah, I thought I was her friend." "Apparently not, considering she said this about you...", and so on and so forth. It's pointless, it's frustrating, and above all, it's hurtful and cruel. If you've been on both sides of this ridiculous and painful fence, you can relate to how I'm feeling as I write this.

If we hired some secret Hollywood directer to put up some secret cameras all over our class and campus for a week or so(which the odds of this are 0, but I've always wanted to do that or make a documentation of all the craziness that happens in the 8th grade...), we could probably make a number 1 box-office hit and make millions in the time it takes you to take an average length history test. That's how crazy it is. Only about... 1/3 of the class, maybe, sees how crazy we are and how much we're ready to move on from tearful afternoons and confused arguments to something more mature for us.

And then there's the confused bunch who gets sucked in the middle and involved in it without even wanting to. Cue me...

What's the main cause of all this? I'm not really sure there's a solid main cause. I know it all revolves around jealousy, greediness, gossip, and making yourself feel better by putting other people down which isn't OK(I've been on both sides of that, so no, it's definitely not OK...).
So there's no main cause for all those crazy emotions that take captive us 13,14,15 year olds(aside from growing up, mind you. And for those of you reading this, I'm sure these situations can relate to high school as well...).

But there is a main cause for why we've been prone to act like this since we've hit kindergarten(besides us being sinful human beings, of course).
God is definitely not the solid foundation of our class. We go to a Christian school, for pete's sake, and we're as bad(to some degree) as any public school out there.

-Instead of taking our situations to God, we take it to our friends for "advice" which usually turns to gossip and backstabbing and then ends up in broken or destroyed friendships that may or may or may not mend up...
-Instead of praying for our enemies, we plot on our next move to make them jealous or to take revenge on what they did to us purposefully to hurt us or we just took it the wrong way(misunderstandings are definitely a huge part of this as well).
-Instead of building ourselves upon God's truths in His word, we're basing practically everything we do on what "she said about me the other day" or on "who fits in"...with whoever the "in crowd" really is, anyways...gah.

We act on emotions. That's pretty much the downfall of our class.
And thus, half of us see this, half of us are blind to the fact.
Here's where the whole "maturity" and "perspectives" comes in.
Regarding our class, it's all how you look at a situation(perspective) and how you handle it(maturity).

I know I've quoted this dear friend a million times, and they probably don't believe me that I quote them at all(which is silly, because you're quite full of helpful and encouraging things, dear...), but I'll quote them again:

"It's all about how you look at a situation. By changing how you look at it, it can change everything."

Think about that for a couple seconds if not a minute or so.
(this is rediculous and doesn't apply to me. I'm just gonna keep scrolling down...)
Uhhh, yeah. I know you people:) Please think about it...
.
..
...did you really think about it? I hope so...

At the time she told me this, I was actually in the middle of something sticky like this at school. I had absolutely no idea what to do, and I was just so sick of what was going on.
So I went to her. Someone I love and can trust and rely on... and people older than you usually know more from experience, si? Not that that's the main reason I turned to her, but it's true. Plus, she actually understands and actually cares about what I'm talking about. That's probably the main thing that gets me talking to people, especially her. I'm not sure about y'all, but if someone doesn't understand or care about what you're talking about, would you talk to them a lot about your struggles and ask for advice? Uhhh, I'm thinking no...

What she said didn't shock me, it just hit me really deep. More than I expected, actually. I'm thinking it hit me deeper because how I was looking at my situation(and how had been looking at pretty much every situation I'd been in for the months beforehand...) wasn't helping how I looked at anything. Meaning... I'll explain in a way y'all will most likely understand and it's easier. I was looking through the camera lens (situation) at a different angle that left everything dark, gloomy, hopeless... nothing really made sense. No light could get in, because I wasn't allowing any! I had no idea where to turn, and I wasn't turning to God like I should have. I kept the angle of the lens gloomy and gray, until I started talking to this dear friend of mine, and she pretty much said exactly what I need to hear, as hard as it was(she's probably thinking that this was a long time ago, which it was, but I just now got enough strength and courage and whatnot to post this out).
Getting out of the pity pit (ouch) and turning the situation around totally helped, and showed me some things.

1.) I don't have it as hard as some people do.
I know tons of people in my life and around the world that are starving, struggling to support their family, scarred from past experiences, stuck in depression, etc. And here I am, with God putting what looked like a mini-hurdle compared to those things in front me me, and I immediately stop and say to Him, "There's no way I can jump that thing."

2.) I'm terribly blessed where I am.
Aside from not being put into those situations above(which mind you, situations like that can be an act of God's grace and a blessing because they can cause you to further His kingdom and grow to be more like Him... thanks Jill, I seriously didn't understand and/or acknowlege that that for a long time), the blessings that God gave me, has been giving me and will keep giving me along with His grace, love and mercy for me everyday totally, without one single doubt, outweigh any hurdle or obstacle that God puts in front of me through His grace alone. Anyways, I was and am terribly blessed- and in the midst of the struggles I was facing, I forgot to look at all of that. I forgot to see all of God's unfailing love for me, His mercy, and His forgiveness for every time I have and will mess up and turn my back so stubbornly away from Him. I forgot to look at my amazing family, friends, and all the people in my life that mean so much to me and help me with so many things(which definitely includes you, the people I've quoted numerous of times in this post alone)that I face.

Woah. I was seriously not planning on typing that much at all! This post could be called way more than "Perspectives", because it's becoming way more of a post about the way you look at things and about a project that will be behind me in 5 months(and yet I'm still dreading...why is this?!).

So back on the maturity/perspectives note.

When I was little, my mom always said it was a good thing that I missed the birthday cut-off by a couple weeks which put me in the grade below instead of the grade above.
So in other words, I could be a freshman, but I'm not.
And when I was a little girl I made sure to tell everyone that I should in fact be placed in a grade above where I actually was...silly me.
Anyways, that way I was the oldest in my class. I could potentially drive first, be 18 my whole senior year, and in essence of everything, handle things that would go on in my class on a somewhat... different scale than mostly everyone else who would be in my class.

At times, yes, I totally hate being behind a year back because mostly all my closest friends are highschoolers. Granted I'm close with few people at school, but it's different.
I notice this all the time, and it cracks me up that I get along with them so well and just fit in well with them. :)
Although, once it's time for youth group after our evening service at church, and everyone goes walking off and I just stand there, it gets sort of lonely and awkwardish. Luckily, I have my ever-so persistent sister never too far behind me. :) But you get what I'm putting out.

But although there are plenty of times I wish I were a freshman already, there are plenty times where I am totally glad where I am. And it's the times where I'm not as thrilled about where I am when I need to remember this:

God put me where I am for a reason.

He sees the big picture, there's a very logical reason that He sees why He put me where I am, He knows what He's doing. Although I don't see the picture, I have the assurance that He does.
Who knows, maybe if I was a freshman this year I would randomly break my arm(like my older brother did...ha) on one of the high school snow trips because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or be taken captive by evil ninjas prowling around our school looking for freshman girls to capture and force peanut butter down our throats(which doesn't normally happen, but it'd be a cool movie, right?). There's a reason why I am where I am. And that's what I need to focus on.

So lets see... I'm not really sure where my thoughts drifted too, but it seems like they are nearing a dead end. I guess this post was meaning to make you think about perspectives. How you look at things.

If I chose to look at everything through the gloomy angle of the camera lens, I would be unhappy as an 8th grader, totally intoxicated in the drama of our class, and probably held captive by evil ninjas with peanut butter.

Think about the perspective of how you're viewing your situation. Are you viewing it how the other person may see it(tough...)? Are you viewing the endless blessings that you're Father is giving you each and everyday that we all take for granted...? And lastly... are you viewing your trials or struggles in your life as a gift by the grace of God... to help you grow in Him, and further His kingdom?

On my advice, I would start now. Don't waste another moment to ponder these things, to bring your situations to God. He knows why you are going through these things.
It took me 14 1/2 years to realize that... and I don't even have it all figured out yet. :)
It's called life, darlings. Figuring things out as you go...

Countdown to Spring Break: 24 days... :)
Loves!
Remey.