I’m thinking what the conversation between the “older” me and the “younger” me might sound like.

”Older” me asks “younger” me, So how’s it going?  “Younger” me responds Fine! I am on Top of the world, lots of money/luxuries, Career advancing, growing family.  Then “older” me responds…well that sounds good but where is God in all this?  “Younger” me says…He’s good for those who need Him, I’m more of self-made man, Gotta go.

That is likely how the conversation with Dear Younger Me would have gone.  When I was young and invincible, I did not see the necessity for looking up to God for much as I was busy looking around to find and feed my longings.  That worked for a while but later, thru what I can vulnerably admit now as a near nervous breakdown, I can tell Dear Young Me that you can have every measure of worldly success but it will not be enough without having your identity first in Christ.

On Thursday’s, my DAWG includes Forge…
Pete’s talk time highlights were Knowing God–Knowing Yourself.  This got me thinking about what this has looked like in my life.

Dear Younger Me learned an avoidable lesson that People, Places or Things cannot replace Knowing God and accepting His grace and living with humility.
Dear Younger Me also learned that Knowing Yourself is about being vulnerable, seeking reflective truth and desiring to grow in weakness with Christ’s help.
Dear Older Me that didn’t heed or hear this “lesson” and needed to take a more difficult path thru a recovery process thanks to the World’s coping devices/ “desires”; Drugs/Alcohol, Meds, Porn, Food, People / Codependency, Work alcoholism, Materialism (mine), Insert your coping mechanism or self-protective strategy here __________, etc.  This path leads to needing to Reconcile with God…  Reconcile with Self…

Reconcile with God… Admit you have failed and you need something greater than yourself to lead and fill your life – Found Humility.

Reconcile with Self… Accept shortcoming and struggles and surrender them to Christ – Found Vulnerability.

Dear Younger Me – Come back next week!

These next few weeks promise to be great truths for all of us…See you there!

Kelley