Being You

A new year and a new you! It is a temptation isn’t it? All those chocolates and biscuits, late nights and lack of exercise have played havoc with you. Maybe the new year is the time to reinvent yourself in some way. Perhaps you have decided to lose weight, get fit or create some better habits as part of your new year re-start. None of these things are wrong and can have an amazing benefit. It could be a time to change who you are physically but could also be the opportunity to alter who you are emotionally or spiritually. Of course, there is nothing wrong with setting goals, but what is your motivation?

I have set myself goals before for many reasons, but the worst reason to change is because I have wanted to be more like someone else. Unfortunately, comparison is a very near neighbour most of the time and often, I have to remind myself that it is not a faithful friend. Forcing myself to change in order to be like someone else because they seem to have it all sorted, they appear to fit in beautifully or their life is evidently sorted is not being true to who I am.

Wisdom can shout out in many forms … this little snippet comes from a children’s book by Dr Seuss.

Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive more youer than you.

No matter where you hide or who you hide behind, you can be and are seen by GOD. He knows you better than you know yourself. Take this verse in Numbers.

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua, son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership …’ Numbers 27:18

REALLY??! I mean, Joshua had been a disaster in leadership; he hadn’t convinced the people 40 years previously to take the promised land had he? His word was not good enough back then. He had been dismissed and overlooked for all that time ever since. It would be very easy to see that he was a failure. But GOD knew Joshua had the spirit of leadership in him, even if no one else saw it, recognised it or let him run with it. Why? Because GOD had put it there. Now was the time for the real Joshua to be found.

The meaning in this one little verse had been chipping away at me even before I read it and journaled it. The truth is God sees me and knows what He has put in me … even when others don’t. He wants me to be me! I can’t be someone else. Even my best effort at being that superstar woman or hero, that incredible mother or business guru, that popular friend or creative genius will fail miserably. I will end up being some weak version or distorted reflection of what I consider they are. I cannot be them. It is an impossibility to make myself fit into their shape. My best imitation is wasted because that is not who I was created to be. I cannot hide myself in an attempt to be more like them.

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive more youer than you.” Dr Seuss

If I might add …

“It’s true, being me is the best I can be.”

Joshua must have felt very out of place too as only he and Caleb survived the wilderness. His leadership lay hidden and dormant for 40 years while everyone around him died. He had to be true to the person he was created to be through all those years.

The thought of living a dormant life for 40 years is not thrilling, and it is certainly not my goal for this new year. I am grateful that GOD’s timing is perfect and He is wanting to transform me into the woman He has always seen me as. I’m aware that the length of time for a dormant season is somewhat up to me too; if I continue to hide behind an ideal that I see in another person I am only prolonging the process.

I have a goal for this new year, and I invite you to join me (whether you read this in the new year or at the end … or anytime in the middle). My goal: to be the me that He created me to be.

How do I do that? For me, the comparison voice has to be turned down and the leaning into what He says has to become more prominent. It involves relationship with GOD and not just a tick list of ways to please Him. It means looking to Jesus as my inspiration and not others. It finds great comfort in what He says and lowers the importance of what others say (or don’t say!).

Today is the day to be you because only you can do that and YOU are who GOD called, created and commissioned. Be brave and step out of hiding. Be YOU!

Katy 😉