(poems go here) CHANGE

I sit here tonight wondering what to write
and thinking of ways to portray what's on my mind.
I stumble on to the question
that has bugged me for quite some time.
When does a boy become a man?
Here I am a boy of 17 unsure of where I am at:
a senior in high school, a Child of God
a soldier of the United States,
a friend, a young boy.
How do I turn my childhood into something worth while?
When will I feel more than a child lost in the sea of events?
Will it be when I graduate high school?
Basic Training? College?
Will I finally leave this childhood behind when the bullets start to fly?
When I end a human life?
Will I become a man when I find a girl friend?
A wife? Have a child?

I pray to God for guidance and I seek those who understand,
you that have been there done that, felt the change.
Now I speak to those of you who can help
and ask you to show me,
tell me, help me see
what it takes to leave this stage behind
and grow into something better.

But then I stop and think,
what if God wants me to stop looking down the road?
Wants me to focus on what I can do now,
for Him, for you?
Should I turn my attention on the things that really matter,
and let growing up come like God designed?
Its not a sudden drastic change
but a gradual change of heart.
A change to see things God's way
and not how I saw them before.
Love your neighbor as yourself
and love God even more.
Maybe that is the answer to this question-
I will finally be a man when I do what God designed me for.

I do not know if this poem relates to you
but writing it has helped me to know
I don't need to change right now
I just need to do what's right.