High School.

4 years of cram studying, Friday night football games, and full moons at the T.

1,460 days of AP classes, ACT prep and college applications.

So many missed curfews and even more lectures about missing curfew.

Here is the post you have all been waiting for- lessons to be learned from high school:

(Warning, I don't have a PHD in surviving high school, don't take my advice too seriously.)

#1: Brought to you by my mother herself, "It's better to kiss lots of boys one time, than one boy lots of times."

Before I say anything else about this, just know- this is not an excuse to kiss everything and anything with a face. That is not my point. My point is simply that dating in high school almost always ends badly.  Here's the problem with getting attached to people- 99% of the time in high school, you aren't going to work out. Try to avoid dating the same person too frequently, and definitely beware of the "exclusive couple" syndrome which always results in losing all of your friends and an eventual breakup that leads you to waste all of your money on sad music and Krispy Kreme donuts. But if you do decide to date someone, at least promise me one thing: don't be that couple that stops right in front of the doorway to make-out between class periods. My eyes can only take so much. Anyway, the moral of the story is simply that high school is more about building strong friendships than it is about finding your future spouse. Which brings me to number two.

#2: Don't grow up too fast.

Never underestimate the power of swinging. This will keep you sane. When you get your first real job and reality starts to set in, this is a very easy way to live in denial of all your responsibilities. Also- convince your parents to buy you coloring books. Tell them that they're presents for the kids you babysit. Before I go any farther, though, let me clarify one thing- there is a HUGE difference between playing on the playground and bringing your pink, unicorn-covered, rolly backpack into the high school. Promise me before you read any further that you will never ever be that girl.
...Promise?

Okay, thank you.

#3: How to Pull an All-Nighter

It's 11:30 at night and you just remembered that the book report you were assigned three months ago is actually due tomorrow? No need to fear! You will learn very quickly in high school that sleep is optional. You don't actually need it to survive.
Make sure you choose a room with really bright lighting and very hard chairs. This is important. You don't want to be comfortable, or else you are destined to give in to sleep at some point when you least expect it. Set lots of alarms on your phone periodically throughout the night, just to keep you on your toes. Caffeine will be your best friend.

#4: Actually show up.

Right now you might be thinking, "no brainer." But this was a lesson I didn't learn until 3/4 of the way through my senior year. Turns out, even if you all you do is show up- you'd actually have to try pretty hard to NOT pass your classes. Plus, then you never have to worry about learning the attendance lady's favorite drink and snack in order to bribe her to excuse your absences. Because frankly I wasted too much money there. Money that could have bought me at least 8 drinks from Swig. But I'm not even mad about it..

#5: What do your friends actually mean when they talk? 

Keeping up with teen slang is important if you care at all about understanding your friends. 

"I'm getting ready, I'll be there in a minute." = round up about an hour after the time they said they'd be there, and that is their actual arrival time.

"He is bae." = Contrary to popular belief, this girl is actually very much single. In fact, as long as she continues over-using the word, "bae," she will remain that way.

"Your eyebrows are on fleek." = thought to be the highest form of flattery.

"Let's go on a drive." = a thirsty boy's favorite pastime. Don't, "go on a drive," with just anyone.

Other people to avoid: 

1. friends that verbally hashtag everything they say

2. the girl who posts a "Selfie Sunday," every week like it's her religion.

3. the guy who always tweets, "fav for an honest DM" just so he has an excuse to ask you to make-out with him. The lowest of lows.

#6: GET OFF THE COMPUTER.

If you are still reading this- first of all, I apologize. 

Second- get up! Go do something with your life.

Climb a mountain. Fly a hot-air balloon. Cliff dive. Surf. Ski.

I don't care what it is. But enjoy these years. 

They go far too quickly, and even if you don't believe me now-

you'll miss it when it's all gone.

I leave you with the famous words of my friend Andy Bernard:

These are the good old days. 

Small, but Strong.

Today as I sat on my cold floor with my back to the wall, I looked out my window and noticed the first few stars peeking out from behind their hiding spaces in the clouds. I thought about how lovely it would be to shine that brightly and attract the gaze of so many sleepless onlookers.

Here I am sitting alone in a home of 6, a neighborhood of 270, a city of 91,648. In that moment I felt smaller than a cell under a microscope. I might as well have buried a hole in my backyard and climbed to the center of the Earth, for all I was worth.

But tonight as I watched more and more stars emerge from the deep darkness of the heavens after midnight- a sudden, simple, thought dawned on me. 

Why would God take the time to create a complex being like me, just to send me to Earth without purpose? He wouldn't.
It seemed such a plain truth I had overlooked for so long.

God hand-crafted me. He chose the color of my eyes and the sound of my voice. He shaped the fingers that would ache after hours of piano practice and the mind that could never quite grasp Calculus. He gave me flaws, and oh so many of them. But he also promised to work with me to overcome them over the course of an eternity.

So often we look to be accepted by God's other creations, when in fact we already have the acceptance of the creator Himself.  

You are not small, simply because you don't shine brightly in the skies of those around you. 

You are tall, strong, and capable. And you are loved- oh, so loved.

The Refiner's Fire.

Sometimes it's 12:18 a.m. and my mind is going a billion miles a minute, and that's when I remember that I haven't blogged in ten months. And although my life isn't incredibly intriguing and I probably already lost the interest of the majority of my readers within the first three lines of this post- a few of you might read to the bottom of this page.This one's for you guys. I have this video we watched in Seminary a few weeks ago stuck in my mind, and I decided to share.

"The Lord wasn't going to allow me to fail."

As we fight to overcome the adversity that plagues each and every one of us on a daily basis,  we wage a war against