Sarah’s Sunscreen Series:
There is a speech that was written to the class of ’97 that was put to music and it is called “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)” There are random bits of advice stringed together and I would like to share this advice with you now…
“Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh never mind you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.”
Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)
To begin with, it is difficult to value your youth when you are a youth. Everyone wants you to grow up, you want to grow up, have more independence, make money, do whatever you please without your guardians hovering over your shoulder. If you look at it we are rewarded as we age in many ways, at 16 you now have the privilege to drive, then at 18 you are a legal adult and gain the privilege to vote, so on and so forth…But truly take advantage of your youth, know that you look great! As you age, the wrinkles will come, your metabolism will drop, your eyesight will fade, your body will develop aches and pains, and you cannot stay up late studying and have the same ability to get up and function the next day. As each day goes by we grow in age and will never be able to get that time, that youth back.
At the same time, age is just a number. You are only as old as your mindset is. I also see knowing the beauty of your youth to be something that people at any age can value. It is about living in the present, you can never tell what is going to happen in the future, there will always be life events to look forward to. But remember to live in the day.
I was reading the lectionary for the first Sunday in advent year A and the scriptures are very apocalyptic but, I took a slightly different view on the scripture that talk about the end of times. We know the past, we know the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the life that we celebrate during this time of advent. We also read that Jesus will return but the important part of that is that there is no way to know when Jesus will return. So what do we do, we are living in the “in between” we have passed our youth so how do we prevent from passing our present? What we do with the in between is that we are to model our lives after Jesus, take what we know from our past (our youth or the history of Jesus) and apply it to the present, that will give us hope for the future. AND if you are a youth, take advantage of the above advice, enjoy the power and beauty of your youth before they fade, live in the in-between, live your life in the present, modeling that life of Jesus.
Much Love,
Sarah Almanza
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