October 14, 2021:
Unique and Unrepeatable
You and I are Unique and Unrepeatable. These two words echoed in my head, and I found myself before the altar, asking God why. What makes us unique and unrepeatable? Why have we been created so differently from one another, each with the same purpose but different missions? And how do we recognize and fulfill that purpose and mission? Here is what He stirred in my heart, slowly:
“Think of your highest moments in life. The times you felt most free, the times you felt your heart could burst with joy, or when you laughed so hard everything hurt. When you felt most loved, most seen, most cared for. Now think of your lowest moments in life. The times you felt alone. Desolate. Like no one understood you, needed you, or wanted you. When you even felt like no one loved you. Or maybe for a moment didn’t even love yourself. Why did you feel like that? What made you despise yourself at that moment? Why did you feel lonely or empty inside? Depressed, sad, alone, like no one understood you. I have loved you through it all. I love you in your highest and in your lowest moments, and the degree of my love does not change based off your performance. You see you are unique and unrepeatable, because you add unique and unrepeatable greatness and mistakes into the world. And whatever it is you chose to add, it has a ripple effect throughout humanity. I didn’t create you with the intention to ride on a high all through life or to stay on the ground when life plummets. I created you to love through the highs and lows of every moment of life, especially the moments you can’t control. Know that I am in control. If I’m in control, you don’t need to worry, all you have to do is trust in me, and love like me. Love yourself- have respect for yourself for your mind and your body. Love the people around you, be generous to them and always respect their humanity in every way. When you choose to focus on just those things, the rest will fall into place. I am the source of love. Come to me so that I can fill you with the ability to love. When you feel like you’ve lost control, know that I am still in control. I haven’t lost control, I haven’t given up on you, I haven’t forgotten you, and I don’t love you any less. Fall into me and Trust me. Let me lead you.” -Jesus
Some questions to ponder: What can you do differently to handle your lows or to avoid hitting them if it’s in your control? Did you do something differently that resulted in more happiness? How can you add more purpose to your day? If we live each day with a purpose, our life as a whole will be lived more purposefully. How can you be prepared for potential lows when you are on a high? Sometimes we are high on life, and everything seems to be going right. Those moments are so good and beautiful, but we must also recognize that yes, this is a wonderful part of life, but I cannot forget that I will hit lows, and I have to be prepared so that I don’t feel like I’m in the depths of despair when things suddenly don’t go the way I wanted them to.
Waiting for that Big Moment
I had a conversation with a friend one day, and he asked “what about my big moment?” I asked what he meant by that and he answered, “Well, I feel like I’m always waiting for my big heroic moment in life, you know? Don’t we all have a life changing event where we are supposed to do something heroic?” I think that, in the back of our hearts, we all think that we are waiting for some big moment to occur that will change us into some amazing hero overnight. The thing is, many people spend their life waiting for that big moment, and they don’t realize that the small moments throughout the day everyday are the determining factors of what will change their life. How we react to the small daily moments are really what make us into who we are, and mold and shape our character. So many of us spend life just waiting for one big moment to come… and how many days do we waste away just waiting? We weren’t given a day to spend waiting for another day, only to waste away that one too. We are given every day for a reason, to live with a purpose. The little moments of each day and how we chose to live it will ultimately make us into something better or worse. We can’t succeed in the rare big moments when we fail to recognize and grow in the many small daily moments. Those daily little moments are our heroic opportunities; Opportunities that require us to make a choice to act on. Superheroes aren’t formed overnight. Saints became great by making the small parts of each day beautiful. Plus, who knows, maybe if we choose to live each day with purpose, we will become someone else’s big moment. Maybe we will be the change or the switch someone else needed in their life, because we were striving every day to be the person we were created to be. Big moments aren't the greatest measure that will change us… it’s the small moments that will ultimately form us. Life is an everyday thing, not one big moment that we spend each day waiting for.