I'll Be Me & You'll Be You

I am me, you are you, and we were both uniquely created by our Heavenly Father. Why then when I look at you do I try to see me? And when I don't see me, why do I feel less worthy, inadequate, incomplete? Do you do this too when you look at me? Or when you look at her? Or him? Or them? Finding our identity in the secular world is pretty much an impossibility. The world gives such limiting criteria for what is acceptable that it would be a never ending endeavor. But finding our identity in the Christian world can be tough sometimes as well. 

I'll admit, I browse blogs of other Christian women with beautifully styled hair, manicured nails, and kids all in matching outfits, and I question whether I may be from another planet. The funny thing is, deep down I don't desire to be them, but yet I still let the feelings of inadequacy creep in. These same feelings can come on when I'm scrolling through images on facebook of people living different lives than me; whether it's traveling the globe, living off the land, running their own businesses, living in fancy places, cuddling fancy husbands, or just plain being hipper and cooler than me. Why is that not me I ask? Do you ever ask this too?

I'll admit, I can do the reverse as well. I will sometimes ask why you are not me. Why do you care about things that I do not? Why do you feel passionate about things that I don't find important? Why do you dress that way, speak that way, react to the world that way? Why do you pray that way, worship that way, live out God's calling on your life in a way that's different from me? Is it me who's not doing these things right?

What I'm really asking is, did God make a mistake in making me so clearly different from you and you so clearly different from me?  And that is something I have a clear answer on. Psalm 139:14 ESV  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

By always comparing myself to others and trying at times to tweak myself to be a little more like them, I'm telling God he didn't quite get things right. I'm telling Him "Hey, my life is supposed to look like that. Why do you have me doing this?" I'm in essence trying to alter the perfect plan He set out for me before I was even born, to fit my plan. This is living in conflict with Him, and is how things start to fall apart.

So let's make a deal. I'll be me and you'll be you, and together we'll celebrate the extraordinary ways God works through each of us...

Romans 12:4-8 ESV  For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophesy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.