Being all we were created to be

My longest bloggy friend Michele shared a quote on her lovely new blog Our Daily Work, in her post 'Becoming Yourself':

"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” — Anna Quindlen

This is so important.

There can be so many voices in our lives telling us who we ought to be to make us 'perfect': the preacher/pastor at church, our family, articles written by fellow Christians, magazines, TV, etc. But what we really need to ask is - who was I created to be? If we try to be like someone else, or to be what someone else thinks we should be, we forget our Creator intended us to be ourselves! Even right down to the colours we love, songs we enjoy, our sense of humour, the skills we possess.

I was thinking this when reading a book about the different kinds of fish there are with my youngest (I know even fish can cause me to think deep philosophical thoughts - ;) LOL). The variety of fish is amazing, some are beautiful, some are plain, some are downright weird looking - but they're all amazing. If that is how God created the little (or big!) fish then how much more variety there must be amongst us humans! :)

Another thought - the Greek word translated 'perfect' (telios), like when Jesus told us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, actually means perfect as in 'complete' or 'fullness' - i.e. we should be all that we are meant to be just as God is all that He is meant to be. I love that.  I always imagined it meant perfect as in without fault, but really it means full and complete.  Being all we were created to be.

Who did God create you to be?  What do YOU enjoy doing?  What makes your heart sing?  When you were a child what activities did you enjoy the most?  What colours are your eyes drawn to?  What books do you read over and over? What scriptures particularly feed your soul?

This is all part of you.  Every human hears the call of heaven in their hearts, it is that which draws us to beauty and to love.  We were created in the image of God, we were created to show every aspect of our Creator.  In this messed up world it has become distorted, but Jesus has set us free to be made complete, to be the fullness of all God intended us to be, to be beautifully different every single one of us.