Sometimes I used to fancy
that I had flashes of genius and the world
hadn’t caught on yet how
witty I was. Sooner or later they’d see
my many talents, I
figured. In the meantime, after the flash, I would
feel sorely unappreciated.
It started back in school. My teacher was
the only one who noticed
how special I was. She even laughed at
my jokes—sometime.
Other days I even rolled
my own eyes along with the crowd. Who was
I to try and attract
friends, to try to garner approval from the popular
crowd? I cringed when I
looked in the mirror—pigtails, freckles, scrawny
legs, worn out shoes and
home-made dresses.
Sadly, it took a few
decades for me to see beyond the pigtails, now
thinning hair, freckles
traded in for wrinkles, and extra pounds I added,
just for the fun of it. I
now go out of my way to avoid mirrors because
there’s nothing for me
to learn there. That’s not a bad thing, because
there are other faces,
smiling faces, all around me. Wait, what?
It was a surprise to me
when I became aware of this phenomenon.
After thinking, wondering
how this came to be, I truly had a flash of
genius. Perhaps all along
there were people waiting for me to look up,
to smile, to speak, too
look away from myself and really see them!
But first I had to learn
my true identity; a child of Royalty, stolen by
the Gypsy would-be god of
this world for a time. There are so many
promises waiting for each
of us when we search the Bible for them.
When we meet the One who
loved us enough to die for us, even
when we ignore or
disappoint Him, it does wonders for your self-
image. You find your true
value and see other people and love them
like Jesus does; you can
no longer be self-centered. Even if your jokes
are lame.
self
image: whenever you feel insignificant, remember
how
important you are to God. God doesn’t help us
because
we deserve it, but because He loves us. Find
your
self-worth in God’s unconditional love, not in your
accomplishments
. Nothing we do in our own power for
God
can be good enough—our obedience in being
available
to Him to do great things will stand thru eternity.
