You get to choose
You are a free and powerful person, and within the bounds of the law and of love, just about anything goes for you.
Your parents can't dictate your life for you.
Your religious community can't dictate what is appropriate for you to do and what isn't.
Your boss can't dictate your priorities in life.
The society that surrounds you can't dictate the right or desirable course for your life.
You get to choose.
If you're getting married, then you get to choose who you're going to invite to the wedding. Be free from the shackles of family manipulation, you're an adult and it's your party.
If you're planning your career path, then you get to choose what (if any) schooling you take, internships you apply for, jobs you try out, and how long to stay and when to quit. Be free from the pressure of the rat race, you're an adult and it's your choice.
If you're pursuing your relationship with God, then you and God get to choose together what your worship looks like, your faith journey, your Sabbath, and your Scripture reading plan. Be free from the religious establishment, you're an adult, made in the image of God himself with the Holy Spirit living inside you.
Don't reject wise advice or sound counsel. Don't run from those who love you and are willing to lay down their lives for you in self-sacrificial service. But don't be a slave to the machine either. You are beautiful and creative and powerful and full of potential. The powers that surround you will do their best to make you forget it and just go with the flow of the world around you.
Don't do it. Be free. Be creative. Make your own choices. Out there, in the scary wild world of your own making, God is waiting for you, and he is good.
