‘You is kind, you is smart, you important.’
Does this sound familiar? Has anyone ever spoken these words over you? This is a powerful quote from the book turned movie called, ‘The Help’ where Aibileen Clark, the nanny and cleaner, speaks this over a little blonde haired toddler. It’s a heart breaking moment where the mother rejects her little daughter for being too chubby.
It’s such a painful scene because we can all relate. The world is constantly throwing our shortcomings in our faces. But, we are Christians, women of God. We find our identity in Christ and He speaks beautiful and uplifting things over us.Have you ever heard of the snowflake generation? It’s a new term that is being used to refer to the generation that has entered into adulthood from 2010. The word snowflake once had positive connotation and was used to describe children with a unique personality and potential. But the phrase has taken on a new meaning; the phrase “special snowflake” refers to somebody who is self-obsessed and fragile, easily offended, or unable to deal with opposing opinions.
Recently, I have been on an inward-focused journey to understand my own identity. And I was faced with these feelings of self-obsession and didn’t want to be seen as a ‘special snowflake’. Then I came across this scripture. Galatians 6:5-4 MSG ‘Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility of doing the creative best you can with your own life.’ Often times we get stuck on the first part of this scripture. We elevate its importance and obsess over it. Why? Because it’s in line with what the world is selling. Make sure you know who you are. Focus on you, your needs, your desires, your ability. We become so inwardly focused and therefore all we see is how special God has made us. Which is true! But there is a second part to this verse, ‘make careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given.’
When we become overly focused on ourselves we run the risk of becoming impressed with ourselves and we start to compare and compete with each other. It’s so easy to slip into. When God started pointing out my strengths and my personality traits that He wanted me take note of, the first thing I thought was, ‘how cool am I!’ And then I started getting frustrated with the people around me because something was one of my strengths and they had no idea what they were doing. Why can’t they just let me do it? I would do it better!
But that wasn’t the point. God didn’t point out my strengths and personality traits to me just so I could judge other people and feel special. There needed to be a shift from inward focus to outward focus; looking at the bigger picture, God’s purpose for my life, each of our lives. He uses our special combination of strengths, skills, and personality to feed into His purpose for our lives.
We need to activate our inner learnings to become outward actions. For instance, I am an extrovert. I love talking, I love encouraging others to pursue their purpose, and my personality traits feed into that. I can be quite persuasive and I can easily connect to people and rally them around an idea. How amazing! But instead of using it for my own benefit, I turn my thoughts to how does God want me to use what He has placed in me to further His Kingdom?
This is my commission, ‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves’ (Proverbs 31:8). I am passionate about women and purpose. So I want to encourage you to do a careful study of who the Creator made you to be. Then offer up your findings on the altar of prayer and ask God how He wants to use what He has placed inside of you to bring glory to Him. ‘You is kind, you is smart, you is important.’ But, let’s not stop there; let’s share the kindness, let’s share the knowledge and wisdom, and let’s uplift one another and restore the worth God has placed in each and every masterpiece He has created.
About the writer:
Fiona Botha is an ordinary girl with extraordinary dreams. In pursuit of a life filled with excitement, creativity, friends and family and actively seeking an awe-inspiring God through it all.
Through reading her blog she hopes that you’ll allow God to unravel your thoughts, beliefs and actions – about who you are, your capabilities and how you can serve Him through your life on a daily basis.
Read more of her blogs: https://www.unraveling-life.com/