I haven’t written on here for quite some time. This is what was on my heart today. Enjoy:)
“Imperfect vessels putting up canvas over our lives to make the viewing audience think we live in an unending perfection of beauty” DMM…this is the way I think most of us live our lives.
Each person you pass has a story of victory and defeat. In most cases they are walking out one or both of those at that very moment. Each day brings with it varying degrees of the mountain top and the valley. You may be experiencing mountain top victories in your relationships, finances and health; however, be in the pit of the valley in your self-esteem. No person has victory in everything nor do they have defeat in everything at the same time.
I think in many cases we paint our victories on the canvas of our life and we proudly display those like a gallery of fine art. We are not so proud of our defeats…however, those are equally painted on canvases…most times those dark places try to be hidden or forgotten. We take those valleys and paint over them our mountain top victories. Know that there is no victory that can remove the pain of the defeat. Worse yet, when we try to mask our lows with our highs we cannot ever be truly whole.
With the age of social media we seem to canvas the airwaves with our victories, our good looking angled photos and our smiles….and when someone canvases the airwaves with their “agonies” we tend to judge them for putting negative things out there.
Let’s get real…we aren’t always happy and we aren’t always sad. We have ups and downs and many varying degrees of ‘in betweens’. I for one am overall positive and attempt to see the good in the bad, the silver lining in the storm and have the belief that no bad thing will remain and there is good coming. I truly am an optimist…however, even as an optimist I experience hurt, I experience disappointment, I experience defeat; just like every other person out there. The only difference is in how we face it.
The older I get the more I am done with the fake. Why do we do that?? I understand we don’t need to share everything with everyone, but why be fake with the people that care the most? Why put on an act?
It’s okay to be real, it’s okay to make changes, it’s okay to let go of old dreams and embrace new ones. Seasons come and seasons go…just like passions and dreams. It’s okay to let go of some old things to embrace some new things. Here’s a little example…I have been very active in my church for over 18 years. I have volunteered in MANY areas over that time, but only for seasons. Some of those seasons I chose to leave and some of those seasons God moved me. Sometimes he gave me grace to persist and sometimes He removed that grace. Sometimes I was filling a need and sometimes I was passionate about the ministry I was serving in. Filling a need is fine, but don’t let that take you away from fulfilling your passion…and be okay with your passions changing.
If you will, picture this…an old time chalkboard with a list of all the things you are involved in and all the things you need to do on a day by day basis. Do you see it? Okay, now erase the whole thing, that’s right…ERASE IT! Breath...now re-write. This time remove the clutter and filler things and only put down the things that matter, the important, the things that are necessary and the things you love. For me…I don’t love laundry, but it is necessary…you get the idea:)
I want people (myself included) to wake up tomorrow and be refreshed. Embrace those gifts and talents that energize you! Choose to walk away from the unnecessary and unimportant things. To change our thinking from…”How will I” to “How will God”…that alone should remove much unneeded burden.
What’s your destiny? What energizes you? What fills your heart to overflowing and what makes you smile? Fill your days with those things. We are all given gifts and talents and we all have a destiny to fulfill…let’s start focusing on that instead of spending our time being bombarded with the latest “awful” from Hollywood or the latest “gossip” from the neighborhood.
Let’s help each other be real and authentic. Let’s stop the fluff! Let’s stop painting pictures that aren’t real and start being authentic and true. The place to start? …with you! We first have to be real and authentic with ourselves before we can be real and authentic with others. In becoming real and authentic most of us will have to deal with things we have buried for a long time…that’s not fun, but once we face our defeats we can truly live a life of victory…even when we lose!
Let's GET REAL...LIVE LIFE...and make an IMPACT! We CAN DO THIS!!!