Two months ago, I was living at an orphanage in Lesotho. This was a great month of my life. This blog is all about my girl Nina. She is someone I naturally got really close to at the orphanage and we did life together for a month. Nina is wise beyond her years, she has two younger sisters that also live with her at the orphanage that she is a constant example to along with all the other children that live there.
Nina writes, this is one of her poems.
“How people see themselves and how they feel about themselves are very important for many reasons. How they feel about themselves shows in everything they do or choose not to do. They show how they feel about themselves in the way they walk and talk, laugh and cry, dress and have fun, the way they get angry and the way they find happiness.
People do not normally sit down and make list of all the things they like and dislike about others, who has time to do this? People make impressions on people. If you present yourself to people as an angry or an unhappy person, people will not want to be around you for very long. But if you present yourself to people as being friendly and an open person, the chances are that others will want your friendship.
This does not mean that people have to act in a certain way in order to be liked, nobody likes a phony. What people have to do is work at really excepting themselves because, as they learn to do so they will become more open and friendly.
A person who has learned to accept themselves normally stands in a relaxed way, he normally dresses in clothes that he can afford to buy and take care of. He does not feel that he has to spend all of this wedges on fancy clothes. He has much more to offer, so he does not need a high-priced suit in order to feel good. A person who has learned to accept himself, accepts others, therefor they do not get angry every time they do not get what they want. They do not demand everybody to treat them like kings.
What does this mean to accept ourselves? we often hear people say “ok I admit I’m that way but that’s just the way I am”. People who make these statements often think they are accepting themselves, but they are just joking. When we accept ourselves, we do not judge ourselves, also we do not give up. People who have truly accepted themselves live each minute of their day with hope in their hearts.
However, we should not think that changing for the better is a straight painless line, learning to accept ourselves is like a fever curve, there are ups and downs. We take five steps forward, two steps back, and five more steps forward. These are only growing pains and these growing pains lead us to the real change for the better. “
– Nina, 17 years old
The things I think people can learn from Nina would start to look like a massive list. I love that giiiirlllll. God created us as individuals, and He wants us to accept ourselves. I want to confidently take on this life not trying to live any other story but mine.
Living my story is how I will deeply fall into this full life that God promised me. Walking with Him, holding His hand, Him being like “cool Syd do you, this is exactly how I created you, and thanks for glorifying Me”. I realized this is an act of me glorifying Him, because He created me. When He did He was WELL PLEASED and He bleeping knew what He was doing.
When we are ourselves this this gives room for others to walk in their strengths and gifts too. When all of us are waking out our passions and strengths we will be a powerhouse for the kingdom. SO, LETS GO, DO U DUDE. You’ve got a perspective that people need in on, and words that can change someone’s days or even their life. All freaken glory to God for Him creating us with all this detail.
Sometimes I day dream, when I go to heaven I feel like God will have me meet this version of myself, the me that he created me to be, and I want to be identical to that Sydney. A nightmare would me being nothing like her, because fear and comparison paralyzed me.
Wow, He loves you.
He loves when you are you.
And He wants to walk with you, while you learn how to love and accept yourself if you haven’t quite figured it out yet.
He so gentle as we learn. Take time in the middle of your day for moments of just embracing this ocean of love that He wants us constantly swimming in.
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