Simple.

So, I got a lot of flack on Facebook from my good friends Lauren and Graham about eating Froot Loops and listening to Taylor Swift while doing some Spanish homework.  It's okay, I can take the heat :)  But as I tuned into the Taylor Swift Pandora station here tonite I couldn't help but get caught up in this song.  (And for those of you wondering how I can get Pandora in another country, shoot me an email because I've become a mastermind at accessing content not available outside the US!)

So, the song is Never Grow Up.  Now you may not think much of Taylor--she's not the best singer out there, not the best songwriter out there, can be cheesy in interviews, etc.  BUT, I like how honest she is.  She really does sing from her heart (whatever you think of what's going on in her heart :)  And these lines caught me:

"Oh, I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up, I could still be little.  Oh, I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up, it could still be simple."

Simple.

Does anyone know what that is anymore?  As I look for a car and an apartment here in Costa Rica because I'll be moving to the other side of the city in the next month or two after finishing language school, I'm reminded of just how complicated being a "grown up" really is.  I have to consider safety, negotiate with savvy male car dealers, manage my budget, oh and still do everything else in my life at the same time.  Simple?  No.

My friend posted this dialogue on Facebook a few days ago:

Linus:  If you have some problem in your life, do you believe you should try to solve it right away or think about it for awhile?


Charlie Brown:  Oh, think about it, by all means!  I believe you should think about it for awhile.


Linus:  To give yourself time to do the right thing about the problem?


Charlie Brown:  No, to give it time to go away!

Hahahaha!  I just LOVE that.  Who doesn't want to give time for our problems to go away.  How many of us think that will actually work?  If I just walk away from this leaking sink and leave it be for some time, the leak might go away.  If I just leave my computer for awhile, the translation paper might just write itself.  Or better yet, if I just give my heart some time, I bet I can love this hard to love person.

Nope.  Doesn't work that way does it?  It's not simple.  It's complicated.  Very, very complicated.

I read this book awhile back called Big Girls Don't Whine.  I thought it might help with the whiny, complainy, I don't want to deal with it--side of me.  It really didn't.  Haha. But I've been struck ever since by the title.  Little girls (and boys) whine and cry when they don't get what they want, when someone won't share with them, when life gives them lemons, when they are tired or hungry or cold or angry.

I wish I had the luxury sometimes!  Wouldn't it be great?!  But what's even greater is what I see God doing in my heart.  How He's changing me from the inside out.  Drawing out that whiny, compainy, I don't want to deal with it--side of me through some really hard, tough, not fun, just plain complicated stuff in my life.  And each day He's showing me more that it's not Big Girls that don't whine, but HIS girls.  Because I'm HIS I can have joy and peace in the midst of the craziness of life.  It's right there, I just have to decide that being HIS girl is more important.

So while some days I still want to scream along with Taylor at the top of my lungs:  "Oh, I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up, I could still be little.  Oh, I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up, it could still be simple."--I try to hand that part of me over to the One who desires for me to really "grow up" in Him.  Here's to "growing up"!