Too Young for Love

This morning I found an old diary with entries made in the 1980s. As a young teenager I walked through a plethora of emotions on any given day. They were real and they mattered. Those were some unbelievably tumultuous seasons. My need to journal started back then. This was my way of unburdening my heart and it worked. It kept me from going far left quite often. To most I appeared really balanced and happy. For the most part I was, but there were those days. Days when emotions erupted like a volcano. Thoughts and feelings would sweep over me in floods. I loved, I hated, and loved again. Maybe I was too young to love. Caution to parents and caregivers—the heart of your child or teen really feels. Their feelings matter. Try not to make light of what they are feeling. When they choose to talk—listen. When heartbreak comes, help them in the healing and restoration.

This was one of diary entry as a young teen:

To You,

Each day as dawn breaks, I awake with a new hope. That one day we’ll be together—that I just might see you today. Today will probably be the day our hearts will be made one. But as the sunsets and the night draws near, that sweet familiar pain awakens my being again. I’m yearning for you. My heart cries out loudly telling you how lonely it is. But you can’t hear, can you? Your ears are deafened by the loud cry of your heart for happiness…

Time after time I question myself. ‘Why don’t you forget the whole issue? Forget about the guy. Someone else is waiting to give you what you need.’ But love doesn’t listen to me. Love has a mind of its own. Love does things that are far beyond my reasoning ability. It shows no respect of persons. So, I listen to love, humble myself under the hands of love, and let it move me. And now, love is forcing me to hold on to my dreams.

I keep chasing rainbows ‘ cause love will make a way. Love will make the impossible, possible. I guess I believe in love, and I believe in you. Someday I’ll reach the end of my dreams–they will no longer be dreams. Dreams will become reality.

‘From My Heart’

This was just one of those encounters with love as I knew it and wouldn’t have had it any other way. All our experiences help to make us who we are. The object of my affection remains my friend today even though we grew in different directions. I consider it a privilege to have walked this road. As intense as it was, it never scarred me or limited my personal growth. It gave life to my heart and an opportunity to feel something that has evaded many in this life. I’m glad I got to feel all I felt. No, I wasn’t too young to live, laugh, and love. The ability to feel, to connect, to love others in whatever capacity is a gift given to us humans. As Christ demonstrated, at times it may hurt to love. Ask the parents of a wayward child, a spouse in a difficult marriage, an abandoned child, or that rejected family member—many continue to love despite the pain. Take some time to read 1 Corinthians 13, you’ll find that love endures some stuff.

***Thanks for reading. Take a chance on love- take a chance on life!