Dear Teenager Who Wants to Do It All
To The Teenager Who Really Wants to Do Everything
From the moment you get up to the late-night hours, you go.
Your non-stop schedule full of hard classes, work, sports, youth group, and an active social life keeps you going all day, every day. In your spare time, you want to feed the homeless, build houses, and travel to Ghana to play with those precious children you sent me pictures of while begging incessantly to go.
I keep getting their emails thanks to your inquiry, along with many other mission trips youâve applied for.
And I love this about you. I really do.
I love your heart, your passion that is lit on fire to do all the things, see all the people, and go to all the places.
You want to do it all, donât you?
You donât want to miss a thing.
And you actually believe you can do it allâ¦
But, your tired eyes and sniffling nose say otherwise.
When I worry that you are getting sick, run down, exhausted from it all, you confidently declare you are fine.
I love your strength, your endurance, and your relentless will.
I love that you believe you can manage the ridiculously busy life you created for yourself. But hereâs the thing, sweetie.
Life is a marathon, not a race.
If you sprint hard and fast for too long, youâll run out of steam and you might even fall.
I know you donât believe me, because you think you are invincible and you canât imagine not doing all youâre doing. You get frustrated when I say no to this, no to that.
You think Iâm just being too cautious, too careful, too criticalâ¦
You think you know better.
But I will teach you what you donât yet know.
I will show you how to run the race with a pace that will keep you from falling before the finish line.
Because sweet girl, you have a long, long, way to go.
You see, I have been you. I know what itâs like to want to do everything, be everything, have a passion for so many things. I remember those days filled with packed schedules and endless days of going and doing allthethings while running the race.
I also remember collapsing under the weight of all I was attempting to carry.
And Iâm afraid you might collapse too.
The truth isâ¦
You canât do it all.
Not now.
But you can do what is most important today and dream for many more opportunities to come in all the tomorrows that lie aheadâ¦
You are just at the starting line of this race and there is a long winding road ahead full of new scenery to take in with every turn.
You have the rest of your life to dive into your dreams and swim off into the horizon full of possibility and promise.
These are the years when youâre discovering the endless opportunities this world has to offer and in your youthful innocence, you havenât yet learned how to manage it all.
Itâs my job to show you how.
Itâs my job to teach you how to plan your course so you stay on the right track.
Itâs my job to help you prioritize whatâs most important right now.
Itâs my job to pull you out of the race and make you rest, refuel, recover.
Itâs my job to guide you in understanding why you need to set limits.
Itâs my job to show you how to take care of yourself along the way.
Itâs my job to steer you on a more manageable trail now so you can endure the long road ahead later.
Itâs my job to launch you into this world capable of keeping pace in the race.
Itâs my job to remind you over and over again that you have the rest of your life to run this marathon.
So, go ahead and dream, search for all those grand opportunities and hold onto that burning fire that lights you up every day.
Keep all the possibilities and all your potential open and aliveâ¦
But for today, you need to do your chores, finish your homework, and get to practice.
For today, thatâs enough.