I have been sorting through all my pictures and trying to put them into albums. So, yesterday afternoon Tucker and I had a good laugh and a couple of cries at the printed memories. He found a picture of me and said, “Mama, I look just like you…we have the same little nose!” He continues to comment on pictures and then went back to playing in the living room, before I had to leave to go teach a class. For some reason, I couldn’t get the thoughts of “who I am” out of my head…’cause I sure have changed a lot over the years. I got up this morning and grabbed my coffee while my thoughts swirled around the thoughts of the person I want to be…the person God wants me to be…not who everyone expects me to be!
We can spend so much energy on making sure we don’t offend someone with what we say…but trust me, someone will always be offended…even when you speak in love. Sometimes people don’t want to hear what you have to say and that is okay. I have learned to spend my energy sharing my victories, failures and the desires of my heart…if it offends you then there is an unfollow button…or better yet and unfriend one. Just because someone is your Facebook friend, doesn’t mean they are actually your friend…most of the time they are just nosey. Today, some of my greatest friends are people I once didn’t want to get to know.
We can spend time on trying to be beautiful on the outside that we end up becoming bitter and ugly on the inside….to the point we can’t eat enough makeup to have a pretty personality. I’ve accepted I am a little chubbier than I once was, I go around looking a hot mess 90% of the time, but I love people more genuinely and strive to have a beautiful heart. I already see what little bit of looks I had are beginning to deteriorate as I inch toward 40😩, but being kind is always beautiful. I’ve been bitter…it’s not pretty.
We can spend lots of money to make ourselves happy, yet if we don’t fix the real issue inside, we are left with an emptiness in our soul, no matter how full our pocketbook. I’ve had the big house, the fancy car and blowed money on some of the most ridiculous of things. Today, my heart is overflowing at how content I am…my little house, most of my shoe collection and clothes sitting in the local Goodwill and my dream car in a junkyard. Stuff is just stuff. You can’t replace memories made and time spent with those you love.
Be you.
If you want to be “extra”, don’t apologize for it. If you want to be “basic”, that’s okay, too. I can be both depending on my mood and my bank account. 🤣
Be you.
If everyone likes you, then you are doing something wrong. I’m sure we don’t wake up trying to make other people mad, but if you are acting on your convictions and you’ve prayed about it…don’t apologize for doing what God has called you to do. People don’t have to like it…it’s not their life, it’s yours. Don’t let them dull your sparkle.
Just, be you.
Weirdly normal…a calm storm…the beautiful mess.
That’s who I am. That’s who God wants me to be.
Perfectly imperfect.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
-Ephesians 2:10