I love this picture. So many things bring me joy but people and children are my favorite. Look how tiny she was and her mouth is opened, of course, because from birth this little sprite had lots of words. I am often told "she gets it from you"! 😂😂 Funny thing, I never saw myself with as much spunk and sparkle as this little human exhibits. She KNOWS who she is and what she loves and has BIG DREAMS...that didn't describe me as a child or even as a grown ass woman for many years. Others may have been able to see those qualities but I was blind to the beauty I carried INSIDE.
I believed lots of lies, some of which were told from places and people I trusted and believed were "right". I didn't trust my own heart, having been told over and over it was "desperately wicked". That twisting spirit of separation, separated me from my true SELF, the one we're born with, the one you see in the picture of this tiny perfect human.
I was inadvertently pressed down into a box of someone else's making. "they" didn't know what they were doing. They believed they were right and had the answers to all the "how should we live as Christians" answers. All the while I was in the box of safety and certainty. I was so comfortable, I didn't even know I was in a dark drab cardboard box. I thought I was living in freedom, probably because that's what they told me freedom looked like.
I began stepping out of the boxes and healing my heart about the same time this picture was taken, a little over 9 years ago. It's been a long journey to where I am today and the "becoming new" won't stop until I draw my last breath. I still struggle and stumble and have days when I don't love myself or others well but I'm still moving, slowly, one step at a time, doing the work of recovery.
I share these words and this picture to remind myself and you that we are ALL capable of change and growth. Living things, they grow and change and die and are reborn, over and over again. NOTHING stays the same and THAT's the way our lives are supposed to be. We were created to explore, discover, uncover and become more of who we started out as, when we were born into this crazy human experience.
What if we all believed in the Shine Theory? What would it be like to live out that truth!! There CANNOT be too much light!! Can there? Why should we dim our light? Or why would we try to turn out or cover up the light of others? So we'll shine brighter??...NOT EVEN POSSIBLE!
Shine on humans....be BIG and SASSY and SHINE your light and don't let anyone tell you what that is supposed to look like.
This Wednesday Word is brought to you by me, recovering control freak, perfectionist, approval junkie, pushing against the norms of conventional Christianity because it's been keeping us Safe and Comfortable for far too long.
You're welcome!
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