When your life has revolved around blending into the crowd,
you become really good at adapting to any situation. If the people around you
are in a poor mood, you sit back and don’t cause too much of a scene besides a
few attempts to lighten the mood. When people are quiet, you are quiet. My life
has been a series of events which have required me to adapt. I see change
before it even comes sometimes and begin adapting.
Being a
world racer with this trait has its benefits. For example, I can go with the
flow of my team. When they are in a mellow mood, I can match that. If it’s a
silly time, I can blend into that too. When our plans change, I can re-focus in the direction we are heading pretty quickly. I feed off the energy around me. I think this
is a combination of my high level of empathy and gift of harmony. Basically how
this plays out in a situation is I will feel what the people around me are
feeling and then in order to not disturb the commonality of the group, I match
it. I am a human chameleon.
BUT what do I look like?
This bright, beautiful guy or
this mellow, hard to see green guy?
Living as a human chameleon has its drawbacks. When I am
constantly blending into my surroundings, I am not showing my true colors. I am
duller than normal and only visible if you look hard for me. I dont
particularly like being the center of attention, so Im okay with not being too
visible; however, I dont want to live dully. Jesus came to give us life. He paid
for us to have a life which is bursting at the seams; an abundant life that is
full of Him and His blessings.
For the past week Ive been focusing on my identity. Ive
been listening for who God says I am instead of my own distorted picture. Here
are a few things Ive heard so far:
I am wanted and chosen.
I am fully loved.
He delights in me.
My daddy loves to see the twinkle in my eyes.
I know, the last one sounds kind of weird, but it truly makes
sense to me this week. When I am fully delighting in the world around me, its
as if my eyes cannot get any bigger. I love to watch as we drive past the
yellow fields on our way into Sofia. I soaked up the older woman who was
smiling when she stepped onto the bus and later began to speak to us in
excellent English. I cant see the twinkle in my eye, but I can surely feel it.
I want to live as the chameleon full of color not as the
duller version. One of my favorite quotes puts this dichotomy into a beautiful
description.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are
inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our
light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to
be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, or fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You
playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant
to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that
is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our
own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates
others.” – Marianne Williamson
Let us live with our colors shining brightly, so we can
release the rest of the world to do the same.
