JUST BE YOU – Part 1

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.  As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.  2 John:6

Back when I was in high school I had this fabulous group of friends that loved me for who I was.  I didn’t have to conform to who I thought they wanted me to be.  I was just me.  Even though I’m not close to them anymore I still am grateful to them for that gift they gave me.  They, along with my parents, allowed me to be confident – fiercely confident in myself and my abilities.  My husband will tell you that is one of the things he was so attracted to when we first met.

Fast forward some 20 years later and I will tell you a different story now.  I feel like I second guess myself when I’m in new crowds of people.  I don’t know what story I should tell about myself when I don’t know you.  Instead of being fiercely confident in myself I instead think quickly is it okay to be me with this person?  Will they like me?

I’m surrounded by a great group of friends now who love me, but I’ve noticed that when my daughter and son have made it on a new sport team that I almost feel like a child again.  I don’t seem to fit in with the other parent’s who’ve been together longer.  I don’t seem to know what to say.  I have a hard time just opening up and being me with them.  Have you ever experienced this when you are sitting on the sidelines of a baseball or basketball game?  How about a band concert or theater performance?

I can see how easy it would be to slip into a mode of feeling left out or less than.  I heard a song on the radio that made me question that mode of thinking.  Colbie Caillat’s song Try:

“Put your make up on
Get your nails done
Curl your hair
Run the extra mile
Keep it slim
So they like you, do they like you?

You don’t have to try, try, try, try…

Get your shopping on, at the mall, max your credit cards
You don’t have to choose, buy it all
Do they like you? Do they like you?

Wait a second,
Why should you care, what they think of you
When you’re all alone, by yourself
Do you like you? Do you like you?

You don’t have to try so hard
You don’t have to give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don’t have to change a single thing

You don’t have to try so hard
You don’t have to bend until you break
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don’t have to change a single thing

You don’t have to try, try, try, try…”

It has taken me awhile to realize that it’s okay to be myself in ALL situations.  Even on the sidelines of a game with other parent’s I don’t know.  They don’t have to like me.  They don’t have to be my friend.  Even without those two things we can still smile and be cordial with each other.  We can still cheer on our children and our teams.  We can still enjoy each others company without having to swap phone numbers or go out for drinks or dinner after the game.  That is OKAY!  I don’t have to feel bad.  I don’t have to feel left out.

It’s okay to be kind to each other during the game.  It’s okay that we don’t have a zillion things to talk about.  It’s okay to still love each other as God commanded us to do.  It’s okay for me to love myself – to love what I believe in – and be fiercely confident in who I am.  In all settings.  To be me!

As Colbie Caillat sings at the end of the song Try – it sounds exactly like something God would whisper into my ear when my doubts come bubbling to the surface:

“Take your make up off
Let your hair down
Take a breath
Look into the mirror, at yourself
Don’t you like you?
Cause I like you”

Don’t question who you are or who you belong to.  God made you just the way you should be.  You have all the gifts he wanted you to have to live the life you were meant to live.  You are loved exactly as you.  Be thankful that you don’t have to try to be someone you aren’t.  Be thankful that you are loved unconditionally.  Be fiercely confident in who you are and who’s you are.  Just be YOU everywhere!

STUDY – 2 John – NIV

¹The elder,

To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth – and not I only, but also all who know the truth – ²because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:

³Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

⁴It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. ⁵And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. ⁶And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

⁷I say this because many deceivers, who do no acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. ⁹Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. ¹¹Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.

¹²I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

¹³The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.