Becoming Like Him - Day 17 - Long

Oh yes!  It is Friday again.  Still one of my favorite times of the week.  This is the day that a bunch of us write for five minutes without worrying about whether it is just right or not.  Then we link up our posts over at Kate's Place.  This month, there are also a bunch of us that are writing for five minutes all month long, every single day.  I am really enjoying the efforts!  I hope to see you over at the link up for your very own version of Five Minute Friday.  This week, the prompt is:

LONG

Don't let something that is long gone 

continue to control you.

It is time to let it go.

START

When I was very small, I longed to be like the big kids and never need a nap.  That two hour period of time seemed forever for my small body, and I was desperately afraid I would miss something while I slept.

When I was a child, I longed to have friends.  I longed  to be liked and loved and appreciated.  I longed for people to want to be with me.  Instead, I found myself the outsider, the one that was always in fights defending myself.  The one that was picked on, the one that was bullied.

When I was a teen, I longed to be anywhere but my house.  I longed to drive and drive and never come back.  I longed for escape and sometimes found it in the pages of the books that I loved.

When I was a young adult, I longed for a husband to love me, children that would be a blessing and a real home where I was never lonely or afraid.

I always thought that life would be a long, long time.  I never realized how short it really is.  

You blink and the toddler is a child.  You yawn and the child is a teen.  You sleep and the teen is a young adult.  Life happens, time passes, it is not nearly as long as I thought. 

Now I am older and realize that I long to let the past go.  I long to forget the bad and just remember and take joy in the good.  I long to forgive and forget and put it behind me.  I long to be better than I have been before.  

I have learned that we choose those memories that we carry with us.  As we long for something else, they become more easily recalled.  As we long to forget the bad time, they become closer to the surface of our minds.  

If we don't let go of the bad, we will never find ourselves in the places we have longed to be.  I am learning to let go of all the things that have happened to me and focus on the blessings that He gives me.  I long to become more like Him and less like the past.  I long to give it up, let go and trust that He can carry all the burdens for me.  I long to belong to Him.

STOP

Now it is your turn.  What can you write in your own five minutes of fun?  Don't forget to join us over at Heading Home with Kate and link up!