Life has a way of teaching us unforgettable lessons. These lessons can define one's character, build self-esteem and shape us into the person that we are today. I was taught a valuable lesson early on in my life, which is something I would like to share with you. I hope that this will teach you to "embrace" your identifying features, that make you, you!
I was aware early on that I was physically distinctive. I remember asking my mother when I was a child "Why am I different from everyone else?" She replied, "God made you this way, and you are perfect the way you are." She said, "Be proud of the way you were created." Then she told me "Gina, you are a gift." This was a priceless lesson given to me. From that point on, I never questioned what separated me from the rest. I was happy to be me! I celebrated my uniqueness and I appreciated my rarity. Never should we feel ashamed by our individuality! We are all beautiful in our own design! Have you ever considered the one thing that you would like to visually change about yourself, you accepted? If you shifted your thinking and blessed your special attributes, can you imagine the freedom that awaits! For once, you could display your extraordinary qualities for the world to see with dignity and confidence! The power remains with in yourself! You can do it!
I want to use the metaphor of seashells to this entry and apply it to life. Seashells look very similar from afar, but take a closer look. They are all lovely in their creation. Each one is slightly different from the other. It doesn't mean that one is more exquisite then the next. The beauty, is that they are all appealing because they are all one of a kind. Each shell varies ever so slightly, just like us.
Start today and welcome your own uniqueness, be happy to be you! Find comfort in your own exclusive qualities. Search for the "seashell in you".
Stay tuned for more adventures,
Gina
Gina I really like this entry, perhaps your best one yet! I want to say so much, but I'm not sure where to start. God did make each of us unique. Often times many of us want to fit in rather than be different, which leads to envy, covetousness, and depression. Because we are all a unique creation of God's own design, we should embrace our uniqueness. We were formed by the hands of our loving creator to be different, set apart, and to magnify these differences to the world, all for his glory. Amen!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Lisa
One more thing, thanks for the reminding us all of this important truth.
ReplyDelete-Lisa
Great post Gina!!!
ReplyDeleteI concur with all that you and lisa said!!!
- OJ
Ahh, A very good post indeed Sis… I too had an early moment when I realized that I was physically different from most of my other family members. My mom, older brother and I were in a bus one day and this other little kid excitedly started to scream…”Mom, Mom, look at the chocolate man”
ReplyDeleteThis peaked my attention and I started to look around to see what he was talking about. At some point, to my horror, it hit me that he was talking about me. This kinda freaked me out, because I had never realized that I looked different than my mother and older brother. To be honest, it made me want to run and hide because I now felt like all this attention was on me for being different. At 6 yrs old, It really began to trouble me about why I looked different than them because I wanted to look like them. But my mother also told me that everyone was different in some kind of way and that God made each of us perfectly different so that we could each do the work that he wants us to do here. My father also had a great way of calming my young anxiety and giving me an identity, but he did it more by celebrating similarities. He used to put my hand next to his and say “I’m Olander…You’re Olander”. (Yep I’m a Junior). Anyways, there have been many different times during my life that I have found differences that I have both equally fought & accepted. But I was pretty much taught & raised to try and value both the physical and emotional differences as well as the similarities shared in everyone. But to my shame, if I’m honest, I sometimes find it difficult to appreciate everyone else’s differences because I tend to be a bit biased and sadly think that everyone should be more like me. I know it’s silly, But I know that isn’t the way because I know we were all wonderfully and fearfully made (Psalm 139:14) And no one was made by mistake. You know I’ve heard it said that God must like variety because he’s made all kinds of shapes, sizes, colors, intensities & personalities in our world. Do you realize that there are over 300,00 species of beetles in the world. I personally think we could have gotten along with less, But the man upstairs seems to see it differently. I must ultimately agree with him though that when I see his beauty shinning forth from his other creations in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I am glad we are all not the same.
So while I do agree with you that we should celebrate our own uniqueness and not feel ashamed by our individuality. I would also would like to add that while we were are each created to be individuals and while we should celebrate our own uniqueness, We were also created to be one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-26 NIV)
Well If you googled those verses, I think they makes a good point of the following: The beauty in us is our individuality, But the amazing part of that is how all of us as individuals can still come together to form something of great magnificence.
To go along with your analogy of beaches and sea shells I will first state the following:
The etymology of the word beach comes from the word “bece” stream which was the description of a stream bed or sea shore filled with peebles or shells.
You see people have always believed that beaches were created by the water running by the pebbles and shells. As I find myself thinking about that today in Hawaii, What it means to me is that separately sea shells are wonderfully beautiful in their uniqueness, But they are absolutely majestic & stunning when each of those unique shells come together as a whole to form a beach. And on this day, I for one am thankful for their cohesion. - OJ