Continuing from my previous post about teens and fame and correction…

What does this pressure towards fame have to do with the correction thing I mentioned? Because we teens feel so important, we don’t need correction. That’s the obvious answer, right?

Wrong. I’m inclined to think it’s because teen feel so unimportant.

At some point, either during high school or college, we wake up to the fact that not everyone can be the best, like we were all told back in kindergarten.

Actually, back in kindergarten I was told we can please God by helping others, and years later I still believe that. Go figure.

I’m not dissing the message exactly, but we all feel disillusioned at some point. If you never have, good for you.

The fact is, this disillusionment proves nothing. As a boy C. S. Lewis felt even more disillusioned than some of us have. He never expected to become famous or even to be greatly important at all, from what I gather from his writings. And he stayed immensely humble even after he became famous.

Whether you feel great or not has little to do with whether you will be great. But I do know that the surest way to not be great is to strive after it in all the superficial forms.

Which to most teens seem unattainable, and so they give up thinking they are important.

Many of us come from broken homes and other bad situations, it may seem like no one ever thought we were important.

Personally my problem had always been being told I’m exceptional, but not being encouraged to be. People think I’m already on the right track so they need to focus on the people who really need help.

But no matter how smart I am, it doesn’t make me exceptional. Like I mentioned before, several years ago I found out that God wants us to accept correction. For a long time, I’d only accept His. IF it was in the Bible, fine; but if it wasn’t, what did anyone else know?

As stupid as that seems, I was 13. I’m just glad I had something I considered the infallible period. But since then I’ve learned to listen to other people more, and the downside can be you start questioning your infallible source.

I’m still convinced the Bible is always right. But I’ve had my moments. And if you have no such rock to hold onto, you’re bound to drift.

Honestly, I think I wouldn’t be sane if not for the Bible and my faith. Someone like me, left to her own devices as I often have been, could go very wrong. But I also could go very right with the proper direction.

That’s what God has given me. I had to be willing to learn from Him though.

I want to be clear, neither with God nor with anyone else should fear be your only motive or your central motive to learn from them.

I didn’t learn jack squat from anyone I was afraid of. In fact, once I was afraid of them, that pretty much cut off whatever good they had done; maybe you’ve been there. If God was not my safe place, and if I had not found other people who were also a safe haven,  I could not learn from them. You probably will not learn from anyone you don’t trust.

Once trust in established, its’ your choice. You can misuse this new confidence you have to get away with stuff you never would have dared to do otherwise, or you can get wise and listen up.

Sometimes you need to shut up, and sometimes you need to speak, but what people older than you, or more experienced, will teach you is when and how to do either.

The more times you shut up or speak at the right moment, the more other people will start to think you’re wise. And when people think that, they’ll trust you. That’s the main thing about true greatness, people know they can count on you to do the right thing, and to advise them to do the right thing. In that sense, you can be great on social media just as much as on TV. If it works.

One more thing:

“The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps. A wise man fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident.” Proverbs 14:15-16.

Consider the sources in your life now. If all you hear is rage, and at surrounded by people who do not consider these steps they are taking, then find some new sources. It’s okay to know people like this, we all do, but do not listen to them. This goes for you TV and movie influences as well. It’s okay to know what they say, but if they do not encourage departure from evil, and they do encourage you to believe their every word without questioning, then don’t heed them.

Fox news has a motto “We report, you decide.” You may not think they live up to it, and I admit, they are not perfect, who is? But that’s at least the right kind of thinking. You need to think for yourself.

But don’t be self-confident if you’re only thinking through your emotions. Wise people know not to act when they’re in a rage. Trust me, it always backfires.

But then again, feel free to question what I’m saying. I would not be a hypocrite. You can take my advise or leave it. But I will say, I need to take it myself.

So, hen you’re done with this post, take a minute to think about what I said. Maybe you disagree, maybe not. I don’t mind more imput.

Until next time–Natasha.