I think the greatest gift we can give to the people around us is to be self aware. I can learn scripture and quote from Romans better than Paul, but if I've never dug into the darkness and light of my own heart... cue the clanging bell.
There are a few questions I think we should all ask ourselves:
Who has God created me to be?
Knowing our areas of strength is crucial, but it's more than just knowing our gifting. We are each unique creatures with unique abilities to touch the lives around us. Understanding and accepting our unique wiring sets us free to engage in whatever setting, church, work or neighborhood.
What are my limits?
The difficulty in answering this question is we seldom deal with it honestly. The needs we see may be so great we overextend. Or our insecurities prohibit us from accepting challenges. A balanced understanding of our capabilities and insecurities combined with the difference between what's stretching and what's exhausting can be a lifelong struggle.
What are my areas of struggle?
We all have hangups, or more plainly, pet sins. Stress, exhaustion, loneliness, pain can trigger all kinds of poor choices. What are they? What are my triggers? Why? If I hate myself for doing the same thing over and over, at some point I should stop and ask, where it comes from?
Whose am I?
This is really the most important question. Is there really a God who loves me? So often we gain our self-esteem from the three questions above, what I do, my weakness and my failures. None of those things will tell me who I am. Understanding my intrinsic value gives me the freedom to dig into the other three questions without fear.
For a long time I didn't like questions like these, or at least the answers they revealed. I can still struggle with them. But as I'm understanding more clearly that I have been created, the way God wanted me to be, with all the beauty and struggle that comes with it, and he loves me just as I have been created, it gives me the confidence and humility to dig further inside.
There are a few questions I think we should all ask ourselves:
Who has God created me to be?
Knowing our areas of strength is crucial, but it's more than just knowing our gifting. We are each unique creatures with unique abilities to touch the lives around us. Understanding and accepting our unique wiring sets us free to engage in whatever setting, church, work or neighborhood.
What are my limits?
The difficulty in answering this question is we seldom deal with it honestly. The needs we see may be so great we overextend. Or our insecurities prohibit us from accepting challenges. A balanced understanding of our capabilities and insecurities combined with the difference between what's stretching and what's exhausting can be a lifelong struggle.
What are my areas of struggle?
We all have hangups, or more plainly, pet sins. Stress, exhaustion, loneliness, pain can trigger all kinds of poor choices. What are they? What are my triggers? Why? If I hate myself for doing the same thing over and over, at some point I should stop and ask, where it comes from?
Whose am I?
This is really the most important question. Is there really a God who loves me? So often we gain our self-esteem from the three questions above, what I do, my weakness and my failures. None of those things will tell me who I am. Understanding my intrinsic value gives me the freedom to dig into the other three questions without fear.
For a long time I didn't like questions like these, or at least the answers they revealed. I can still struggle with them. But as I'm understanding more clearly that I have been created, the way God wanted me to be, with all the beauty and struggle that comes with it, and he loves me just as I have been created, it gives me the confidence and humility to dig further inside.
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