The Meaning Of Love Not The World, But Those That Are In The World

Last week, my daughter brought home a magazine of prom dresses. The store where this magazine came from promised that if you bought your dress there, they would register it and not sell the same style and color dress to anyone else at the same school. Now remember, we are talking about 16, 17 and 18 year old girls here. It makes me wonder who the parents are of the girl who is going to show up in this dress.

I scanned this picture from the magazine, which also, uses "COOL" as a main part of the name. This is not from online, this is from a magazine that was in my child's hands. The promise came from a store that is only 45 minutes or less away. Her school is a very small high school compared to the majority of the high schools that surround that store within a 45 minute radius. One of the larger high schools in that same city (Little Rock), has 2,422 students enrolled there. There are 72 high schools in and within 50 miles of Little Rock. I think this is where some of us realize that we are not only concerned for our own daughters, but others as well.

Which make me realize all the more why I want to publish this newsletter. I'm concerned for the people I don't know that need what I have. A feeling of hope, a feeling of worth knowing that you do have a purpose in the world. Then there are those that don't have any cares, but eventually they fall too. Some fall harder than others and it's those that will read it and remember how they got to where they were, like I did and like I know several others have. Then there are those that just need encouragement and to be reminded by stories from our own lives, to keep going even when you get frustrated.

It's not easy. It's a walk through a rose garden, pretty flowers, thorns and all. When we learn to endure the pain, we can walk the narrow path through the garden without second guessing whether or not we should have taken the wider sidewalk around the garden. It's funny how we've learned to be more afraid of a few scratches that we will risk our lives or the lives of others instead.