Bad Timing.

I've always had bad timing. I could never be a comedian, I suppose. It started as a child, when I could not walk (or even crawl) because of an illness. But once I was well, I learned to crawl, and I was teetering around in a very short time. My learning to walk too quickly is the speculated reason behind the 37 degree curve in my spine.

Sixth grade is when I became interested in classic literature, reading Shakespeare and Doyle. All above my reading level, and thus I gained less than what is desired from such masterpieces. I re-read Hamlet this year, and at one point I exclaimed, "OH! That's what this play is about.."

College searches and SAT's began in eighth grade. I didn't take the PSAT (though I now wish I had) and jumped straight into the SAT. When I didn't do as well as I hoped (First time I made an 1180), I began studying and ended up retaking it 3 times. I had my entire college career planned before my freshman year of high school began.

Speaking of freshman year, I took 14 classes that year, including 12th-grade Civics and American Government. Sophomore year, instead of taking Geometry, I took Pre-Calculus. By the time I was sixteen, I was so bored of school and life that I decided to graduate.

But it isn't merely my academic life that I have been over zealous.

When I was 15, I began working for a para-church organization called Youth Outreach United (www.youthoutreachunited.org) I was the only employee/volunteer under 18, and I accepted every opportunity for leadership that they would give me. I led 3 middle school girls bible-studies and tutored in International Village 3-5 days a week.

Most of my friends have been 2-5 years older than me, and I have shunned those closer to my age because they seemed "shallow, dramatic, and immature."

My freshman year of college, (when I was 16-17) I ran for President of the French Club and won, might as well go straight to the top I figure. It's a huge responsibility, and I've learned a lot, but it's been incredibly difficult. Though I think it has gone well, maybe I didn't have the experience to take on something so big.

I could go on, but my point of this post is not to gab about my precociousness and intelligence, work ethic or what have you. My point is there is something that I've never learned: patience.

I don't know how to wait for things. I don't know when to say, I'm not mature enough for that. I want to take on anything and everything and no one can tell me otherwise. That way of thinking shows my immaturity. It is unwise, and stereotypical. I have no patience when it comes to timing; I want to force my way through life.

I'll end this with one of my favourite passages from Ecclesiastes 3,

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.