Thank You for Letting Me Be Myself
One thing none of us is any good at is being someone else. Some tolerate it better than others, but no one is a genuine success at it. There are many reasons for this, but one is certainly that the attempt is a betrayal of self. This may seem a simple observation to you, but I am constantly amazed at how everyone looks different. God made us that way. Different. And the differences are throughout our beings, seen and unseen. I believe that God did this in part because His greatness and glory cannot be defined and portrayed to the world through one likeness. God is big.
Many of us try or have tried to emulate others as we have gone through the self-defining stages of life. There may be some truth in that for awhile we don’t know who we are because we are still developing. We are learning. But the individual asserts itself rather early. The self needs direction, to be sure, but it does not need to be pressed into a temporal mold. We are sure to meet failure and frustration if we are not (in the end) self-determined. In other words, we are our best when we are allowed to be ourselves. All of this assumes that we are following God’s will and direction as sincere believers.
One reason we fail at imitation is that we really don’t know how to be anyone else. In the old Peanuts comic strip, Lucy once said to Linus, “You’ve got your shoes on the wrong feet.” Linus stared at the ground for a moment and said, “These are my feet!” My attempts looked good in the mirror but came off badly. David could not wear Saul’s armor, and you look better in your own clothes. God made us for freedom, and this is a part of it. I worked for a preacher who said, “I’d rather make my own decisions and make them wrong than have somebody else make my decisions for me.” Ditto.
You are unique. That means rare, and rare means valuable. There’s not a lot of tolerance for people who want to express their “uniqueness,” but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Be fearless, but be careful. I say that because some may be tempted to act as though the feelings of others don’t matter. Self-expression cuts both ways. I wish we understood that. Then, we could be considerate, compassionate and compelling at once. As such, we would be fulfilled- maybe even happy. Effectiveness would follow because we would be genuine in our efforts. God would bless our authentic efforts.
Sometimes, I wonder how I may have harmed others by trying to force them to be something other than themselves. I know that I have been injured by the same. Human nature, perhaps, makes us want to control our surroundings and relationships. Like a spreading tree, we tend to shade out other plants. On the other hand, I have been blessed with friends who have supported me, encouraged me and even allowed me to be myself without judgment or condescension. And they break my heart. For accepting me, I want to say, “Thank you.”
Sterl
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