girl growing

and a space for her to play in

Thursday, December 14, 2006

permission


i got an e-mail today from a new friend...
someone rather different from me,
and yet their words resonated deep inside.
my friend may have said this to tons of others as well as me,
but it meant something...
something real, and true, and beautiful.
it's simple and logical...but so worth repeating...
and it made the world feel a little less lonely.

"As everything is about permission giving here is my permission to you:
Be young,
be foolish,
have fun,
do crazy, mindless things.
Have a few drinks more.
Allow yourself to make mistakes
(that's how your old friends got wise anyway).
Don't try to grow up too fast.
I don't think that God is demanding this of you.
Kiss your boyfriend and annoy grumpy germans with your excitement.
These are your freakin' twens so dance a night away,
watch a sunrise,
be late for church,
live on coffee for a week
and buy some crazy- expensive clothes.
Play a great prank on Ken
and drive around in your car for hours
just listening to decent music.
Play hard…
if you didn't get the point yet, I'm giving up ;-)

....To be honest,
I could cut the whole emerging church blah,
in the end it's all about friendship
and spending time with your favorite people."
amen...
and thank you.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I suggest moving across the country with no real plan or idea or friends. Throw a dart at a map and resolve to live there for a length of time. Buy an extra meal to go at the next fancy place you eat at and give it to the guy selling papers on the corner. Ride a bus across town. Leave a dollar under someones windshield.

There are lots of things to do that require no permission.

9:50 PM  
Blogger juli said...

haha...good call neumann.
this is true...
they don't really require permission, nor do the things my friend listed...
but, i think that being a young, 22 yr old female makes me hesitant. i think we're choosing to be in a church culture that causes us to want or need affirmation. i know i do at least, and sometimes i have a hard time remembering to just be young.

much like the things you mentioned...i want to do to save the world. sometimes i forget that being 22 can be fun and i need someone to remind me it's ok...

oh! and i actually kind of am moving across country! but only for about a month...to europe to visit some friends.

now, how abouts you come back to visit?

7:02 AM  
Blogger Ken Shuman said...

I love it! Except for the part about pulling a prank on Ken. Definetly a bad idea.

7:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!!! Part of being 20 something is living with such intensity as to make folks who are older (we'll hold judgement on the "wiser" part) sit back in wonder and part of being 20 something is letting go and living full out. I LOVE what your friend said and echo it loudly ... including the Ken-prank thing. It will keep him on his toes waiting for the moment.

8:09 AM  

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