This is a really fascinating tag for me and I would like to thank Stu at Something to Stu Over for the nomination.  This tag was created by Everyday Magic with Jubilee and Mom Life with Chiari.  Please click on these links and check out these blogs.  Make sure to tag them in your posts so that they can read your letters of encouragaement to yourself.

RULES:

• Post the tag and image above.
• Mention the creators of the tag and link back to their blog.
• Thank whoever nominated you and link back to their blog.
• Nominate 5 other bloggers that you love and notify them by commenting on their latest blog post.

Oftentimes we may wish that we could go back in time and give our former selves advice and words of wisdom.  If you could go back in time, what advice or encouragement would you give to yourself?

Oh, my!  That would have been my sophomore year in high school.  Since then, I have lived over half a century and during that time I had a stroke and have lost a lot of my memories.  But I will attempt to give myself advice and encouragement.

Dear 15 year-old me,

1. Don’t forget to thank people.  Everyone is doing something for someone every day and the forgotten people need to be encouraged with a thank you and a smile.  I remember being more than a little self-centered when I was a teen.  I went into the “best” shops at the time with my mom and I was snotty.  I would tell myself to be kind.
2. Listen to what the pastor is saying in church.  I attended church with a friend when I was in my teens and I paid little or no attention to what the pastor was saying because I was talking to my friend.  This was way before the time of cell phones, so we just sat in the balcony and whispered to each other.  I look back on it and know that I could have learned a lot if I had only paid attention.
3. Have fun!  Don’t take everything so seriously!  When I was fifteen, I was determined to make all A’s all the time.  For one thing, it made my mom happy and or another, that was part of my identity.  I was a nerd, the girl who spent as much time as possible behind a book.  The fun that I had was with my sister or sometimes with a friend who had a sleepover.  I ended up almost having a nervous breakdown the following year, spending time in bed and not allowed to study until I was calmer.  So, I would tell myself to relax and enjoy my young life more and not be so concerned with my grades.
4. I would tell my young self that I was accepted just as I was by my Father in Heaven.  I never felt very loved or accepted in my teens.  You see, my mom told me from a very young age that she didn’t want me.  Then, in my teens, she told me almost daily how ugly I was.  My acne didn’t help my self-image, but that was just part of being a teen.  I worked about every blemish, fretted in front of the mirror and cried more than one time as I prepared to go to school.  My clothes were perfect.  My hair was as good as I could make it look.  But, still I felt that something was always wrong with me.  After all, my own mother didn’t like me.  Since then, I have discovered that it was probably herself that my mom didn’t like since as I aged, I have grown to look exactly like her.  Beauty is not everything; in fact, it is such a small part of life.  So, I would tell myself to accept myself, that I was indeed loved by my Heavenly Father.  (Just so you know, I was not a Christian at the time.  I attended church sporadically with my neighbor-friend.  But I would sing “Jesus Loves Me” to myself in the bathroom after being told once again how ugly I was.)
5. FInally, I would read my Bible more.  What young teen thinks that reading the Bible is important?  Let’s face it.  I was a child of the 60’s and I was more concerned with my face than my faith. But reading and studying the Bible would have helped my self-worth, kept me focused on the right things and repaired my hurting heart. I know that the Bible is worth more than gold and it holds the wisdom that I needed then and that I still depend on today.

My nominees are:

The Audacity of Faith

David Ettinger

Lisa Blair

Sue Love

Puzzles of the Soul