Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Be The Very Best You

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

“Why can’t you be like that?“ “Why can’t you do that?“ “Look how pretty she dresses. You should get her to help you.“ “Maybe if you worked harder you could get a job (or a man or a life) like that.”

Hurtful comments meant to sound helpful while slamming the other person as not being good enough. Why do some people incessantly need to “fix” or “change” the people around them?

Of course, I use the term people rather loosely. It seems that in every crowd there’s one person who does the bulk of the “fixing” and another who gets the brunt of the attacks. Every time I hear of another school shooting I wonder if the shooter was someone whom others thought needed fixing. I am not saying it’s okay. Obviously, it’s not. I just try to understand the depth of pain that would lead a kid to take a gun and kill other kids.

Maybe it’s something else. Someone once told me that when someone needs to fix or change those around them, it’s because they’re unhappy with themselves. I believe that. I do. It just doesn’t make the pain hurt any less.

This Scripture reminds us that we are wonderfully made by a God who loves us. We were created in His image, each uniquely formed to reflect a wonderful light outward. Do we mess up sometimes? Absolutely. Are we sinners? Without a doubt. But we are also wonderful just the way we are.

Whenever a nasty comment heads my way, I instinctively want to lob an assault right back. I’m good at it too. I don’t say that proudly. It’s just that I’ve had a lot of experience over the years. I went from silent victim to pointed tongue defender. Pain has a way of bringing out the worst in us.

But God says to pray for those who harm us. To turn the other cheek. To forgive again and again. And so I try. I must, just as you must. Because otherwise the pain is too much and the built-up anger and resentment eats away at our souls. Then we’re no good to anybody, especially God.

These days I try really hard to take a deep breath when someone lobs an insult my way. I don’t want to let that person draw me in to that hateful place of anger and resentment. I try to either ignore it or diplomatically deflect their words. I tell myself their opinions really aren’t worth getting upset about.

God made me in His image. He created me to be the person that I am. And I’m going to do everything I can to be the very best me I can be. So should you. So should you.