This Year, The World Needs You to Be Yourself
I find the sky captivating — how the clouds pop off a bright blue backdrop as if you could reach up and pull one down to earth. The vibrant colors strewn across the horizon as the sun rises and sets. Every day, a new spectacular display of sunlight dances over nature. Have you ever stopped to soak in the night sky, memorized by the deep shades of blue decorated with stars too numerous to count?
Maybe it's just me, but when something captivates me I talk about it often and enthusiastically. This is why my sons grew up hearing constant chatter about the sky.
“Boys, look how orange and pink the sky is this morning. God’s amazing,” I’d point out before school, beckoning them both to the window to see for themselves.
“Wow, aren’t the clouds awesome today? Look how fluffy they are. Did you notice that?” I’d mention as we were driving to soccer practice.
Day after day, year after year, my admiration for the sky filled their ears. It has never been scripted or deeply theological, just the natural outpouring of a girl who notices God’s beauty and desires to share it with the people close to me. When my boys turned into teens, my enthusiasm was met with eye rolls and sighs, but that hasn’t stopped me.
However, If I’m honest, I’ve wondered if I’m more of a bother than an influence. Is anyone listening, Lord? I’d ask in the quiet of my heart.
Until one day when my son interrupted me in the laundry room, "Mom, I have to show you this photo,” he said as he scrolled through the pictures on his phone.
I half ignored him and continued filling the washer with laundry, expecting to see another pair of sneakers on the screen accompanied by a campaign to purchase them. As I closed the washer and shifted my eyes to his phone screen, my heart gasped.
Orange and pink painted the sky like watercolors across a canvas as the sun dazzled above the rooflines of our neighbor’s houses.
“I took it at the bus stop this morning. The sky was amazing.” His words sunk deep into the crevices of my heart as I soaked in the moment's significance. We talked about the beauty of his photograph and the nature of a God who creates endless splendor. The Holy Spirit was tangible in that moment, dismissing any doubts surrounding my influence.
I paused and considered how God designed us to ooze His goodness and truth to the people around us. How His Spirit makes our hearts its home, helping us transform the world one interaction at a time.
God uses our unique personality to display Himself. I think about the words in Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (ESV) This verse isn’t only about our physical appearance; the whole of who we are reflects God. Our personality, passions, the way we express ourselves — every unique part of us is created purposefully to use for His glory.
That is good news to a girl like me, who has often felt like too much and too little all at once. Recently, God has shown me that my most significant impact in His kingdom is accomplished when I show up authentically. The genuine outpouring of my personality displays Him boldly. For as long as I can remember, insecurity and fear guided my choices as I looked around and saw a world full of people who were different than me. I wondered if I had anything to offer. I believed the lie that everyone else had more valuable qualities than me, convinced that my personality, perspectives, and interests were inferior in comparison. Like a chameleon, I altered myself instead of showing up genuinely, trying to find significance by fitting in.
Until one day, God interrupted my tears of frustration with a whisper to my heart, “It’s time to be who I created you to be.” I considered the deeper message in my hiding, how it revealed a lack of trust in God’s design. Every time I conceal myself, I place more value on the opinions of others than God’s truth. When I bend to the world’s expectations of who I should be, I miss opportunities to display God to those around me.
Friend, you and I are God’s good creation. God uses our unique personalities to communicate His truth and lead others to Him. I wonder how this world would change if God’s children were brave enough to stop fitting in and rather stand out. What if we honored God's handiwork by living authentically as the person He created us to be, instead of blending in?
We are going to need God’s help with this, only a heart tethered to Him will know how to show up in the unique way He created it. This is the beautiful work of sanctification: by His Spirit living in us God cleans out the ugly, sinful parts of us and shines up the good for His glory.
Exposing our genuine selves may seem intimidating at first. However, I am certain that when we gather the courage to abandon the world's anticipations of who we ought to be, we find the freedom to live authentically. Every brave decision to present ourselves genuinely builds our confidence to continue.