Be Yourself... Not Someone Else

This is just another strange little something I thought about while I was driving home from visiting my friend in the country as I drove past the paddocks filled with sheep.

So as I drove past all these paddocks it came to my attention that sheep... are sheep! Yes, that is basically just stating the obvious but I thought further into it. Sheep are sheep, cows are cows, birds are birds... and we are who we are. How often do you see a sheep trying to fly? Or a cow trying to lay an egg, or a bird trying to round up the cows. You don't! You know why.... because they know who they are, they know what they are and they're not trying to be something else. 

We should be the same in our own lives. There's no need to try and be something we're not, because it simply wont work! God made us who we are and we should be happy in our skin. There's no need to hide behind an identity that does not belong to us. 

During my teen years and early in my 20's I tried being someone I was not. I tried all sorts of things to try and get away from who I was because I didn't think that I was meant to be that person, and I began not liking that person. I thought I'd try becoming like some people I knew and went to parties with them and I drank, but I didn't fit in. I tried dressing differently to try and fit in that way, but it didn't do anything. I went out with some guys just to try and build myself a reputation and to try fit in that way, again, I still didn't fit in and probably didn't get the reputation I wanted. Then I met a friend who I thought had it all, everything I wanted, so I began to try and change myself to be more like her. I changed the music I listened to, the things I wore, the places I went, it was all to become more like her... and you guessed it. I still didn't fit in. 

The question I kept asking myself is... "Why don't I fit in anywhere?"

The answer is simple... I didn't fit in because I wasn't being myself, and when you're not being yourself you're not going to feel like you are a part of anything. 

I finally let go of all the things I was trying to change, my friend who I tried to become like eventually disappeared from my life (but that's another story) and I just focused on getting back to being me again. One thing I learnt is that the longer you allow yourself to try and lose yourself and become like others, the harder it is to actually find yourself again. 

When I found Jesus, it all became easier for me. He helped to show me who I was and who I was meant to be. He helped to show me the person that He wanted me to be. The person I was born to be. 

So... basically just by driving past some sheep it has made me realise that we are who we are, we are who God made us to be and we shouldn't try to change that. 

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139:14)

Thankful for: Parents

I have a fairly obviously thankfulness today, that is for parents. Parents do a lot for us as children when we don't notice it. I know when I was growing up my parents gave up a lot for me to dance and sing. Now, as I'm older and I have to pay for everything myself, and arrange my own bits and pieces to go along with these hobbies, I realise just how much there is to it. So I am thankful for my parents that they were willing to give up so much for me, so that I can be happy.