You Do You

One of my favorite things to hear my daughter say, and it makes me giggle every time is, "You Do You." The chuckle results from the fact that she usually makes this statement when she doesn't want to play along, but is completely okay with us following through on whatever we have declared at the moment.

But in all seriousness, why can't we just let people be themselves?  You totally do you.  Do it well.  You go out there and you rock you!

You want to run a Marathon...

You want to get addicted to Hot Yoga...

You want to incorporate Kale into your daily diet...

You want to wear black socks and white shoes...

You want to drop to your knees as you worship...

You think Kombucha is life changing...

You want to wear Yoga pants even though you don't do Yoga...

You want to travel outside of the United States...

YOU DO YOU!

Here's the deal...

I want to go to the track and walk at a leisurely pace...

I am not a fan of Yoga at any temperature or its pants...

I cannot get an acquired taste for Kale (I have tried and I am over it)...but that Spinach though...

I want to live where I can wear flips flops year round...

I am an intimate worshiper, I might raise my hands on occasion, but it is between me and God...

I love me some Lipton Cold Brew...

I have no desire to travel outside of the U.S. of A...

I can totally do me!

In her Bonus Essays (pg. 3) for her book release For the Love, Jen Hatmaker puts it this way:

The minute we start believing (or acting like) different equals against, then we become combatants in an invented war.  Whether we find offense where there is none or offend because we feel right, either way, we've turned sisters into enemies.  The tricky thing is, there really is no "right" in this particular brand of battle.  It is not right or wrong to let your baby sleep on your bed.  It is not right or wrong to work outside the home.  It is not right or wrong to send your kids to public school.  It is not right or wrong to throw enormous parties.

These are preferences, that's all.  We each have a cocktail of personality, experiences, tendencies, and gifts, and they jumble together and make us who we are.  I do not need to feel threatened because something is right for you but not for me.  You don't need to become defensive because I love this way and you love the opposite.

I am completely sure what she is saying here is "You Do You!"

My husband and I marvel (and at times are horrified) at all the ways our kid's childhood is differing from each of ours.  The world is waaaaayyy different, the way we parent is different, the choices that need to be made...vastly different.  If their lives are being molded unlike the way our parents and grandparents did it...then my friends, they are going to be most certainly distinct from the way you and your family tree made it work.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I set you apart.

Matthew 10:30-31  Even the hairs on your head are all numbered.  So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.

I once had someone tell me (after to getting to know me) I was a "goodie" in High School.  And my response to him was similar to this:  I had to be.  My parents could not afford to send me to college.  They would have made it work, because they are amazing and wanted more for me, as I did for myself.  I had two younger brothers behind me, I didn't want them to go without current or future needs.  In High School I had to make good grades, being involved in lots of activities was a back-up hope for additional scholarship opportunities, and ended up being the exact thing that landed me a full-ride.  So where some saw "goodie" or "snob"...I saw survival and a future.  I had to do me...it was my ticket out.

God had and continues to have a plan for my life.  While I can look back and see His blessings and loving hand in my choices, both the hard and the necessary...I cannot see what the future holds.  God gave my daughter sweet words Sunday as we discussed my current season - maybe now is just a time of change and trying something completely new.  I know if he provides for the sparrows...He will provide for me.  Let me do me, and my dear co-humans, I am your number one fan to let you do you!  ((hugs)).

If He can hold this world, He can hold this moment.  Not a field or flower escapes His notice.  Oh, even the sparrow...knows He holds tomorrow.  Amen.

Jason Gray - Even the Sparrows

What Have I Done Becomes What Will I Do?

Although I am doing my best to be a courageous and transparent person when I write, there are still aspects about my life that I choose to keep personal and private.  A couple of those categories include politics and religion (please note...not faith, but denominations & buildings).

I avoid those two things because we all have the story that God is writing in us, for us, and meant only for us.  It shapes our choices.  It shapes our comfort zone.  It shapes our inner circle.  It is full of feelings.

With that being said...I am weary.  I am weary of the blame-game.  I am weary of the self-entitlement we give ourselves to share our opinion.  I am saddened by our world and the things that are taking center stage.  The war we are fighting my friends can not be won on social media, the nightly news, or a well-lit stage donned in red, white, and blue.  It can not be won in well-preserved buildings with beautiful stained glassed windows.  It can only be won in in our story, in the personal and private time we give to God.

Ephesians 6:12  for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

When the first plane hit the twin towers, I was packing a diaper bag to take my 15 month old to meet my husband at the OB/GYN's office to hear the heartbeat of her future brother or sister.  As we entered waiting room, the second plane had hit.  All I could think was, "What have I done?  What I have I brought life into?"

  

This morning, fifteen-ish years later, as I sit drinking my coffee, reading my devotions, and journaling...I watch my once 15 month old pack her gym bag and grab her keys to drive herself up to the gym, and my thoughts remain on her future:  What does it look like in this world...what will it look like for her children?

Go get in your car, squeeze your hot-mess-of-a-self into your tiny closet, in the cleansing of a hot shower, on the beach (if you are so lucky), with your coffee on the porch, in the middle of a field at sunrise or sunset, in the front pew of an empty church...go get intimate, up close and personal, and humbled before God.  That is where the war begins...

He knows we are burdened.  He knows we have our own thoughts about how things should work.  He sees us doing life with and without Him.  Go get transparent with Him, wherever you feel safe or unkept, whatever your comfort zone or complete-and-utterly-alone zone - He will meet you right where you are.  

James 4:2  You desire and you do not have, so you murder.  You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.  You do not have, because you do not ask.

What would you ask Him for today?

What is the big thing?  Our nation?  Race relations?  Organized Religion?  Poverty?  

Who or what has He placed specifically on your heart today?  

What do you need from Him?  Faith?  Financial relief?  Healing?  Rest?  Truth?  

My family got me a shirt for my Birthday that reads, "Not Today Satan".  I am thinking I should wear it more than just one day a week...I do not have time for his shenanigans. I can see him manipulating our world, but I am doing all I can to be a light and not a shadow.  I can feel him celebrating his division among God's people, but I will not be a part of his party.  Not.  Today.  Satan.  

The Armor of God.  Prayer.  Love that surpasses all understanding.  Let us vow today to stop seeking blame, and start becoming the solution.  I don't know what that looks like, but I am hitting my knees and praying to the One Who does.