Do you ever get a recurring message that indicates a new theme in your life?
It’s like God is walking you into a place where He wants to show you part of who you are that you just haven’t been able to grasp. So in His grace, He has it collide from all sides until you have to throw your hands up and say, “okay, God, I’m listening. Help me understand.”
The one He seems to be asking me to embrace right now is this: You Do You.
I have lived life as someone who is so afraid of not looking successful. I do all the things because I enjoy them — most of the time. But then I find myself being crushed under the pressure of trying to do it all at a level of excellence that sometimes isn’t possible. And then any message that might not actually apply to me is that one thing too much.
Case in point. I’ve been doing a fitness and nutrition class with a friend. I’ve been learning a lot, but I really struggled at the end of the first week. Why? Because I had to do the plan perfectly and I wasn’t getting the results some of the other women were. They were sharing about losing six to ten pounds, and all I could think is, “Man, I’m not doing this right. I’m failing.” Here’s the crazy thing: I know if I lost ten pounds, it wouldn’t be good. That wasn’t even my goal or reason for doing this. My why was to learn more about my body and how to be healthy.
How many times do we do that?
In one moment, the clearly defined why gets lost and we get lost. We disappear in a fog of reasons that aren’t ours. And suddenly what was life giving and healthy becomes skewed and bondage.
My friend kept saying, “You do you.”
And I have felt God whispering in so many ways, “Cara, you do you.”
“You follow the plan and the purpose that is uniquely yours. Quit looking at what other people are doing. Quit comparing where you are to where they are. Your paths are different. What I am asking you to do is different. It is uniquely yours.”
So today, all I want to do is encourage you. Seek God. Ask for a refresher on what He has for you to do right now. Please don’t compare your call to mine. You really don’t want mine. But if you do you and the call He has for you, your life will be a beautiful reflection of Him to the world around you.
Together, we can impact the corners of the world He’s placed us in during this unique season if you do you and I do me.