28/365 The good stuff

My teen years were full of strife. Whose weren't? There were highs and lows, good and bad, friends and enemies. I might have had more than most, but I also surely had less than others! Through deaths, betrayals and great hurts, my faith remained a strong point. 

Going to church was a highlight, even when it wasn't pleasant all the time. There were just as many cat fights at church as there were school. People were mean and silly at church, just like they were outside. And most importantly, I was the same flawed person at church that I was everywhere else. 

But there seemed to be something more happening at church - a desire to become better. A desire to improve. Not a denial that bad things sometimes happened, but an admission that they happened. 

Church became a place where you could acknowledge that you weren't perfect and apologize for it - with out people pointing fingers at you and waiting to mock you. You could ask others to help you get over it, become a better person. And the most surprising part was - they did! 

I snapped this picture during those years - it captures something that church was to me at that time. A place of new dawning, new hope, a brighter tomorrow.