"Man Up!" - Be YOU

As I sat at my laptop ordering some blinds for our bathroom window yesterday, I suddenly paused and looked around the dining and living room areas of our new home.  It dawned on me as I was trying to choose the right color for the blinds that when I look around me, I see a lot that looks like Piper and me!  That is probably not a great revelation to many of you, but at that moment it was a big deal to me.

I think the cheap plastic blinds that were on the master bathroom window were one of the only items not upgraded in our home when we moved in.  The very first time I attempted to raise them up, the cord on the lift pull disintegrated and the blinds fell off to one side in a tangled mess!  At that time I hung a towel on the window and tended to forget all about it until yesterday when I set out to take care of the need.  My revelation mentioned above arose when I couldn’t decide between the dark red or hunter green colors.

I found myself leaning to the red because I thought that most people would think it went better with the colors of the floor and tile in the bath as well as with the accents in our bedroom.  The indecision came though, because I REALLY liked the green better.  I finally came to my senses when I figured out that I was the one who had to look at them every day, and that it really didn’t matter what others may think… besides who would come into our master bath except for my wife and I! (and the green would also go nicely with the brown/gold floors and tile…)  So, with a quick click of the mouse, I highlighted the green blinds on the webpage and clicked the submit button!

This morning as I was reading at the beginning of Ephesians chapter four I got as far as the first two verses and couldn’t go on.  A portion of Ephesians 4:1 in the Moffatt translation jumped out at me as I read “…live a life worthy of your calling…”  As I meditated on it, my revelation from yesterday came into a clearer focus as I heard that voice deep in me repeat the words “YOUR calling” over and over again.  It then dawned on me that much of our individual callings are based on who we are. 

As I think about Christians that I hold in high esteem, I realized that a big part of their success in my eyes is due, in part, to the way they incorporate who they are into their daily lives.  Their personalities, their personal strengths and weaknesses, their preferences in the styles they choose in their dress, the type of cars they drive, the houses they live in and the way they decorate them all blend into the Christian walk they project to the world.  I think God looks at all of that in each of us when He chooses our individual callings… for it is who we are!

While continuing to digest that translation’s meaning, I immediately saw a footnote in my mind’s eye that highlighted the thought: “MY calling… NOT someone else’s!”  And as I recalled some of the troubling directions given to us at the beginning of the journey we are on with my wife’s health, I understood Paul to be saying that we are to live our lives in the ways that God made US and not try to or allow ourselves to be forced to live our lives someone else’s way!

It came to me back then that these well-meaning (I hope) folks took no consideration of who we really are, for their strong “suggestions” would have made things quite difficult and unbearable for us.  They responded to us from who they are and not from the outlook of who we are… does that make sense to you?  For instance, my wife and I are not the mini-van type of people, we are more the Mustang type!  Nothing wrong with mini-vans but they are not for us!  My wife would have no part of them when our kids were young.  She wanted a Suburban with big tires and mag wheels… and I had my Camaro!

So what’s my point?  It’s simply this: Know who you are.  Look at the whole picture of the gifts and talents that Papa God has endowed you with and live your life accordingly.  I find that life is a lot more enjoyable and profitable as well to His kingdom purposes for us when we follow our road and not try to be like anyone else!  God made you and me special, so why not live your life to the fullest extent within in the boundless parameters of who He made you to be?  He put all that in you for a purpose you know, so be you in Him to the world.  Have a great week, and keep asking yourself… “Whose life am I expecting to live today?”