Discovering the beauty in who you already are

​I recently found myself wondering, what if life isn't as much about changing as it is about discovering. What if this pursuit I'm on to become who I'm made to be is standing in the way of me discovering the beauty of who I already am.

It's funny, I say it about my boys all the time. I say I have no picture at all of who I want them to become - because I truly don't - I just want them to discover the gifts God has planted in them. I think me pushing them toward something that's in my mind stands in the way of them discovering something that might already be in theirs.

The process of me discipling my kids isn't me pointing them toward something OUT there, it's me helping them discover what God's already put IN there.

I once had a conversation with a friend about peace. I asked, have you ever felt peace?

I asked it because I had.

I remember where I was. I remember the trail. In that moment I was overwhelmed by this feeling that I was free to be me. Free to think and say and be all things that were truly me. Free to be things I'd spent a lifetime hiding from, believing those things couldn't possibly be a part of me.

I remember saying - in that freedom - this is peace.

Maybe that is what peace is. Finally discovering who we have been all along, because God didn't create us for hiding. Remember when Adam tried to hide from God? And God gently called, where are you Adam?

A life spent chasing down this person we think we're supposed to be at the expense of resting in the person we already are often looks and feels like turmoil.

It looks and feels like writing the story of the world we think we're supposed to see instead of sitting down and writing the story of the world that lives in us.

The world out there - it pressures you to write a story about the world. It pressures you to believe the world is the leading role in that story; you are just a supporting actor or actress. The world constantly challenges you to re-write your character description in a way that makes you deserving of a role in the story.

Sometimes we simply need to quit re-writing.

The story is you. You are already in a leading role. The secret is removing the world from your story long enough to get to know the beautiful character you already are.

You don't need to re-write your character description. You just need to discover the description that was written long ago.

You are a beautiful story. Take time to read it.

*(re-written from an article I wrote in 2021)