Living in the Shadows

September 20, 2017 I was sitting in my office, my mind started wandering, I opened a word doc and started typing….

“Be different so that people can see you clearly amongst the crowds.”  Mehmet Murat Ildan. Be the best version of you, pursue the passions and dreams the Lord has set on your heart.

Half marathon training with my brother, running behind him, reminding myself I can run my own race and it doesn’t have to be as fast as his! Run your own race, you are a masterpiece!

Sitting in my office, doing what I do often….entering accounts payable invoices, my mind started wandering. I opened up Word and started typing. In today’s world, it is as though we often try and be who we aren’t. We get caught up in other people’s lives on social media, wanting what they have, so the real “us” gets hidden in the shadows. Is it bad to learn from others and see qualities in other people we like and start implementing them? No, not at all, that can be good. Is it good to try and change who we are to be like someone else? No, I don’t think that is good. I don’t want to be hiding in someone’s shadow.

Do you feel sometimes you are living in the shadows of other people’s dreams, passions, and lives? I find myself doing this more often than I would like. I see all these other jobs people have and think I want that job, but really not my thing AT ALL. I see someone’s family and get envious, or I see someone’s house they bought and think I need to buy a house, or I see a very classy career woman and think I HAVE to become more classy…somehow. I see these other 29 year old woman who actually look 29 and I think how do I make myself look older than 21. Or I see one of my girl friends who is hilarious I think, ugh, why can’t I be funny like her.

But friend, have you TRIED to be someone you aren’t? Have you tried to be a really classy business chic when you are actually an adventurous, rather be hiking kind of chic? It is actually hard and draining.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

We are God’s MASTERPIECE. Stop and think about that, when you create something and say that is a masterpiece it is a masterpiece! I may not be some business classy chic BUT I am God’s masterpiece and he created me the way I am. I am a smiley bubbly blonde, at times loud, love to talk and make new friends, I am adventurous, I love being active, and I have so many dreams I get overwhelmed because I can’t do them all. If I focus on what I am NOT or what I think I want to be, I will never feel like I am enough and a masterpiece.

Are you on a journey to be the best version of you, the masterpiece God created? Or stuck in the shadow of someone else?

Over the past few years the Lord would remind me in sweet ways that I am “beloved”. That called for a tattoo right? I have the word beloved tattooed on my wrist to remind me I am beloved by Christ and I am uniquely made. Psalm 139:13-14, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” We are all uniquely created.

Stop and think about this…if we were all the same how BORING would that be. Y’all I am not about the boring life! We need ALL types of people to work together to make life fun and full of uniqueness. The Lord created us all different to help each other in our own ways.

I often want to live in many different “shadows” of different people, then try to be like them which is EXHAUSTING. Why not be the best version of YOU, trying to grow in richness in this life instead of trying to be like someone else.

Ask yourself this question, “am I am living and striving to be the best masterpiece the Lord created me to be, or am I trying to live in the shadow of that “picture perfect business chic” on Instagram?

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

You are a masterpiece and so loved friend!

Cheers,

Britni Jo