Halfway to adult?

How's your life lately?

As I reflect on my life, I realize that I am halfway to adulthood, and the days have been filled with noise, reports, classes, and unending schedules. Despite the busyness, there are moments of peace that I cherish and hold dear. Like on a Friday night, when I sit down and drink cold water while listening to music. The sound of loud snores echoing through the wall serves as a comforting reminder that my parents are still with me. Whenever I talk to God, I feel like a child, and it's a refreshing feeling. There is no need to put on a facade or assume a certain role. I can just be myself, put down all my walls, and rest as a child. It's comforting to know that in Him, I can find solace.

This phase of life can be scary because you never know if you will make it to the end. Sometimes it is easy to dream big and persevere, but other times you may feel like time is running out and you might waste it.

At times this phase can be lonely because you are trying to find and maintain deeper relationships and friendships that will last through any season of your life. It's hard to find real friends who will stick with you through thick and thin, through fires and storms, and even in the between-of life.

This phase can also be very overwhelming and heartbreaking at times. You may have to face hard conversations, responsibilities, and pressures. You may have to leave some places and people and forget some beautiful memories to face the new season. Growing up involves a lot of transitions where leaving is necessary for transformation, so you might miss your home. But you will look back and realize that the people and memories that you left behind will always have a space in your heart.

This phase can also be confusing because you may wonder if you will find someone who will love you for who you are. GenZ calls it a slow-burn, old-fashioned kind of love. It's a love that takes you to the doorstep of your home, courageously asking your parent's permission to pursue you. It's a love that takes time to get to know each other, sees flaws and imperfections, but knows how to keep an oath. It's a love that cheers each other's dreams and aspirations. It's a love that forgives and not condemns, waits and not rushes, accepts and rebukes. It's a love that is peaceful and not chaotic, with clarity and no confusion or manipulation. It's a love that believes in hope and relies on His overflowing love. 

This phase of life has many twists and turns, with lonely days and nights, leaving behind versions of yourself that aren't beautiful or beneficial. But these transitions are necessary for growth, so you can grow like a plant planted by streams of water. You will continue to grow and learn whenever you keep His Word hidden in your heart.

And at the end of the day, when you're lying in bed, you will see that life has always been beautiful and magnificent because He is in control of everything. You have the privilege of seeing wonders that you can't even fully grasp the beauty of as a human. You have the privilege to experience laughter and sadness, to feel the hugs and kisses of your loved ones, and to live and inhale His grace and mercy.

The wise King once said that everything is meaningless. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who came after. But even as your world becomes noisy and chaotic and seems that everything now is possible; keep in mind, everything is permissible but not everything is good and beneficial.

Death comes to all, so you must live fully, wiser, and not quit life.

His Word stands the test of time, and you should rejoice in our youth. As it is written, "And you who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart  and cast off the troubles of your body,  for youth and vigor are meaningless." Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

The Conclusion of the Matter

⁹ Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. ¹⁰ The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.^[a] 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

¹³ Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
    including every hidden thing,
    whether it is good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14

Goodnighty! Sarap magkape sa 7 eleven oh, swak sa budget ng adult! Oh kamusta ang adulting?