“If we are each as unique as the Bible says we are, then our calls to courage are each equally unique.” 100 Days To Brave, Day 14
We’ve read a bunch this past few days about how we are loved as we are, how we were made with our passions and skills, and about the labels we have adopted for ourselves versus how God labels us. We are unique, she reminds us, one of a kind. As an Enneagram 4, being told I’m unique is no surprise (!), but I often can’t be sure my uniqueness is acceptable.
Today Annie F. Downs draws the strands together to invite us to own our uniqueness. She suggests you and I journal some ways our lives are unique. While it might be easy to skip over today’s challenge, I ask we take it seriously. List, draw, paint or type. Invest some time throughout the next 24 hours; keep coming back to your page. Keep it. Pray over it. Ask God to reveal to you the glory of what (you) he made. Perhaps, even ask God to make you excited about who you are.
If you are feeling super brave, feel free to add any images (or parts of images) to my Facebook page Tifainé, or perhaps a selfie of you holding it. I’d love to see what makes you you.
I think I am a 2 or a 6. It’s pretty balanced. So don’t really think about my uniqueness because I’m too busy worrying about others and my fears.
I love laughing and making others feel at ease and laughing. Maybe that makes me unique as I am told that I am good at that. I don’t know. I need to think about this more as I am finding this really hard.
Before I did my reading today, I had some time just reflecting and listening to Holy Spirit, and I find it funny how much what the Spirit has been speaking to me has correlated with today’s teaching. I would add that we not only were created to glorify God, all of creation does that, but we were uniquely created for relationship with God. God made us in his own image and set us apart from all of creation as the one he would commune with. The beautiful thing is that when we allow our uniqueness to shine it both glorifies God and draws us closer to the one who gifted us with those unique abilities.
I am a unique blend of left and right brainy things. I love logic puzzles, algebra and trigonometry (probably would have loved calculus if I had the opportunity to take it), systematic and organization things. I love grammar, which provides clear and understandable structure to language. I love learning new languages; I just don’t have the time for it. I also love going for walks in a garden, sitting to admire the sunset, painting God-inspired images, creating beautiful poems, writing about lessons I have learned. I love to create, to craft, to be inspired. Art has been a lesson in accepting the imperfections of my art as part of the beauty of nature. It has only been a recent exploration in the world of paint because I always thought that was my sister’s talent, and my drawings were not good. I hate to sing in public (when people are purposely watching) because I used to always be compared to my amazing mother, plus performance anxiety is a real thing. I still love to sing, though. Comparison is the thief of joy and robs us of our uniqueness.
But in all of that, I often find I am the closest to God when I am journaling, painting, walking in nature, worshiping, singing, writing. When I let myself be my uniquely creative self, I am more at peace and more at rest with God.
God made you just as he wanted you, Megan. Thanking God for you today x