Be Who You Are
I decided recently that I wanted my kids to have a memory of me saying something to them consistently (besides “chicken butt” every time they say “guess what?”). I don’t know what sparked this, but I knew that I wanted them to have a definite answer if they were ever asked what their mum always told them.
“Be who you are” has become something I’ve said so consistently that Glory doesn’t think anyone should leave the house without hearing those words. “Be who you are,” I say when I drop the kids at school, or when they go outside to play, or when I leave for the office.
I have a journal entry from one year ago, a reflection from Romans which I titled Be Who You Are:
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Ro 12:6–8)
So discover your gift, Sarah, and then do it. Do it to the fullest. Do it to the joy - of yourself and others and to God’s great pleasure and glory.”
I have spent far too much of my energy and emotions in my life feeling envious of who others are. Part of my journey has been to accept who I am and who I am on my way to becoming. And then living it out.
I know one of my gifts. Maybe my greatest gift. I haven’t always used it well, but I know that my gift is encouragement. Encouragement is “the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope”. That is exactly what Member Care is about: giving support, confidence, and hope to others. Encouragement is boosting the courage in someone else.
I have not met anyone who has not needed it. And those who live under more stress, as cross-cultural ministers do, need even more of it.
That is my gift, among others! What a delight to be walking it out and chasing it with joy; I believe that it is to God’s great pleasure and glory that I do so.
Have you discovered your ‘gift’? If so, how are you growing in practicing it – to God’s glory and the joy of others and yourself? If you’re not sure, how will you begin to discover what God has gifted you with?
Be who you are.