The fourth quarter.

For 18 years of your life, you are forced to live under your parents care and to go to school. Whether it be public or private school, it's still required. It's when you start wrapping up that last year of these requirements, that you start to look back on who you were, all of the memories,  and who you have become. Imagine the last year of your high school career coming up and looking back. Do you enjoy what you see? There are so many lessons to learn in this world, so many things to see, do & feel. I look back and I see myself running. I've always called myself a runner. I have found that the things I've enjoyed most in life flee way to quickly anyways, so why stand still? Life is beautiful at a fast pace. Don't slow down for anyone. I used to search for people on this earth who would never let you down and would be a reason to stop. There is no such thing. The only one who will never let you down is God. But you have to find the people in your life that are worth walking for, since life never stops. When you find those people, don't let them go. Hold on until they are the ones running. God has given me a reason to stop. He has slowed me down and I see the world from such a beautiful place now. I've always been told that I'm changing, but that's because I'm finding where I belong. All I know is that I belong running, walking, skipping, jumping, whatever it is God has called me to be. For three years of high school, I searched for who I was. I am finally going in my senior year, knowing who I want to be. Senior Year... whoah. I had so many plans for the way that this would be, the friends I would have, the guy I would spend it with. I look back and I see a girl wanting to be someone the world labeled her to be. A girl who wanted to be liked. Alcohol, drugs, sexual things and vanity all ruled my life. But now that I look back, I just wanted to find happiness. Some of the happiest things I have ever felt is when I finally found a best friend who tells the truth and will be there, when I realized God has been fighting for me all along, when the guy of my dreams looked at my and smiled after he got off an airplane, when I finally looked in the mirror and thought I was beautiful, when my father & mother sat me down and told me why they were happy I was their daughter... so many things have made me happy. And none of them are the things that I thought would bring me happiness. I look back and I see high school as a game with four quarters, and my last quarter is coming up. There won't be overtime, because I've given it my all. With 12 minutes left in the game, I see that high school is about searching for yourself, who you want to be, who you don't want to be, who you were and happiness.  The happiest of my times were when I was happy with myself. And I am happiest with myself, when I am given my life to God. The fourth quarter is gonna be over before I know it... but it's just getting started. I'm going to give it my all, do what God needs me to do in my school & community, and I'm going to end this one happy with the time spent. I'm going to end blessed to know the other players on my team or the other team. I realize that I keep talking about the end. But why start something, if you don't know what you want out of it? This is only the beginning. :)