Smile, Praise and a Piece of Chocolate

I don't think I have ever felt this lonely before. I am almost 18 years old. It is about the time when I have to start growing up: making my own decisions, making money, paying for different necessities. It is really scaring me. My parents are backing away, which is great because they want me to succeed on my own, but frightening at the same time. No more holding my hand. It's time to live the way I choose. That is a difficult thing to do when you are an indecisive person like myself.

However, that is not the only reason why I am lonely.

The other day, someone was driving me home after an NHS project. I told her how I was working at a diner. I was telling her my hours and she noticed that I had Friday nights free. "That's great!" she said. "You can still go out and party on Friday nights!" I am not much of a "party person" and I told you that. "Well, not party, but hang out with you friends." I thought about it... I don't really do that. Who would I hang out with on a Friday night? I didn't have an answer. My high school is not my favorite place. It is just a place to pass through. This town is not where I would choose to spend my Friday nights.

So you are probably thinking, well, she has to have SOME friends. I do have friends and I love them dearly. But lately, friendship has seemed to be a one-way-street instead of two. Some friends don't find me "cool" enough and no longer wish to sit with me at lunch. Others pound me with arguments. I love to debate; it is one of my very favorite things to do... However it is not as much fun when you feel as though you are being ridiculed for your beliefs. I don't just believe what people tell me to believe in. I do my own research. There are friends who never write to me first. There are also friends who worry me with their bad habits. That's a problem I have; I worry too much about others. Why don't I let them just mess up their own lives? I want what is best for others and I give too many second chances.

I am so glad that I have God in my life. I feel so lost now; just imagine how lost I would be if I didn't have him in my life! I know this is just a phase and I have to get through it. There is so much more to life than worrying about friendships. I have a kingdom to help build.

The best thing for me to do right now is smile.

"Smile though your heart is aching, smile although it's breaking. Although there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by if you just smile."

"It's what you wear from ear to ear and not from head to toe that ma-ha-atters."

Smile, and praise God for all his many blessings. And... maybe eat a piece of chocolate.

Alligators Under the Bed

This morning on the news there was a story about a man who slept all night with a 300 lb alligator hiding underneath his bed. The maid found it the next morning. That was my biggest nightmare growing up. I never put my hand over the edge of the bed in fear of losing my hand. I think this fear came from either watching Peter Pan movies too much, or that amazing kid's tv show, Zabommafu. Either way, the alligator was under some man's bed. I pray he does not have nightmares for the rest of his life.

Creative Writing...

So you may see a lot of posts on here from my Creative Writing class. My teacher asked us at the beginning of the class, "Who do you write for?" A lot of people said themselves. Her remarks surprised me. "Don't you think that's selfish of you? Why do you write if you don't want anyone else to read your work?" I thought about it and I agreed with her. That's why I want to post my stories here, for the world to see. I thought and thought about it and came to the conclusion that I write for God and for his glory. If my stories may bless someone else in some way, then I need to put them out in a way that others can read it. So there ya go!

The hook to my new story!

Everyone was out on the dance floor having a good time. Annabelle wore her new pink satin dress, which gracefully floated across the room as she spun and twirled. The band played with speed and zest as couples jumped from side to side and up and down. Martin looked devastatingly handsome in his navy suit and pink bowtie to match Annabelle’s dress. The couple looked almost picturesque as they slow danced and gazed into each other's eyes. The gaiety was contagious and there was not a single person in the hall that didn’t have a smile beaming from their face. However it only took a second for the joyful laughter to turn into shouts and screams as gunshots rang through the large wooden room. As the people scattered, only three were left lying in their own pools of blood on the cold dark-wooden floor.

Write A Story About This Picture. -15 min. go.

It was as if there was nothing left for me to live for. They took everything I had: my family, my house, my land and even my soul. All of it was gone, and there was nothing left inside of me. I looked out to the one thing that was still mine- my flock of sheep. Since the soldiers burned our house, Lyla and I had been sleeping in the fields near the church, snuggling next to the sheep to stay warm. I felt a tear roll down my hot face. I did not like to think of her gone. Where was she? Dead? In prison? I did not know. As I continued to gaze at the sheep, I heard someone calling to me.
"Excuse me, sir! Sir!" I looked over my shoulder to see a woman running towards me whom I did not recognize. She was an older woman with soft wrinkles between her brows. She had a sense of urgency in her voice. "Sir, your sheep! Please, I beg you, may I take your sheep? My family will die... Please sir, please help us!" I moved my head back towards the flock. They're small white bodies were perfectly content to just stand in one place and graze on whatever grass was left in the field. Everything I had was already taken by the soldiers and soon, I would be gone too. Maybe, I thought, this family of hers might make it through. "You can have my sheep," I told her.
The lady looked at me with a tender smile. Tears started falling down her aging face. She took my cold hands into hers and kissed them. "May God watch over you," she told me. And with that she rounded up my sheep and took them back down the path from where she came.

A Day in the Life of a Shoe -15 minutes go.

It is not easy being a shoe. As a shoe you have one job and one job only and that is to protect your master's foot. For some shoes, life is amazing... Like me for example. I have a wonderful master. Her name is Haley. Other shoes aren't so lucky. My friend Clog for example has a master who never changes his socks and loves to trudge his feet through the mud puddles outside his house. Poor Clog was sad and tried explaining how he felt to his master by crying a pitiful odor. He didn't get the message apparently and Clog has gone the way of all good shoes...(to the dumpster!) Poor Clog. I hope I stay on Haley's feet. Every once and a while she'll mess up and shove my face into a half-chewed piece of gum, but she cares about me enough that she will clean me up right afterwards. We go on many different adventures together. We go to school, to Grandma's and if I'm lucky, to the beach where I can get a nice massage and cleaning.

My name is Flip Flop by the way. I am green with white palm trees and am a size 9 and 1/2. I have been working in the Shoe League for about 3 years now and am nowhere close to retirement. I consider myself to be a reliable shoe... I haven't broken a bone yet! I think I have another solid 2 more years ahead of me still. That's a long time for a guy like me! So, if you are a piece of plastic, rubber or leather looking into joining the Shoe League, I highly recommend you try it out. There is no other job in the world as interesting as being a shoe!