What Trees Can Teach Us About Being Ourselves
Every fall, I enjoy walking around and taking pictures of the all trees. That time of year is rapidly approaching once again in Pennsylvania. Seemingly all at once, some trees will have bright red, orange, or yellow leaves, while many will still have green leaves.
Other trees will have no leaves left on them at all. Then there are the evergreen trees, which stay the same throughout the year.
The trees are never in competition with one another or feeling behind the other trees around them if their leaves haven't turned, yet.
They are just all doing what they do on their own time table.
When I am walking around taking pictures of the trees, I don't expect each tree to look exactly the same as all of the other trees around it.
To me, part of what makes fall in Pennsylvania so beautiful is the diversity of colors. And if I don't make it out to take pictures when many of the leaves are at their peak colors, I can thankfully usually find a few that turn later than the others.
I have a few different kinds of trees at my house. How well would it work if I wished one of the trees looked different, so I gathered leaves from another tree and glued them onto mine? Or if someone else thought your tree should look different, so they glued leaves from another tree to yours?
It wouldn't work.
This all sounds a little strange, I know, but I think many of us do this in our own lives. (I know I have.) Not with trees, but with ourselves. We can sometimes feel pressure to be like someone else or think we should be different than we are.
Maybe someone looks the way you wish you did, has a "better" personality, or seems to have an easier or more successful life.
Do you feel like you are behind and not accomplishing as much as those around you? Or maybe you are even comparing yourself to what you thought your life would look like by now.
Sometimes, the people around us can expect us to be further ahead or more like them, too.
Just like the trees, though, that's not the way it works. God created each of us differently.
You and I are different from each other, and this is good! God created you with your own gifts and talents, and you have your own likes and dislikes. We are supposed to be different from each other.
Some of us can do what others (or ourselves) expect us to do for so long that we forget who we are - or what we like or dislike. Then, one day, we wake up and have no idea who we are.
This is where I unexpectedly started to find myself about 3 years ago. It was unsettling and painful, but Jesus has been using it, ever since, to remind me who I am.
I realized later that I had been exhausting myself (physically, mentally, and emotionally) trying to be someone that God never created me to be. I'm sure I will be talking about this more as time goes on.
I have been on a quest these past few years of discovering who I am. Not in the way the world would suggest I find this out, but in a way that involves asking God to show me who He already created me to be.
How about you?
Have you discovered who God made you to be, or have you been trying to be somebody else?
Maybe you have never thought about this before and are unsure. If you want, you can pray and ask Jesus to show you if there's anything you are embracing that is not who He created you to be.
I know. This can be scary, sometimes! If you hesitate doing this, I understand. I encourage you to ask Him when you are ready. There is so much freedom and rest available for you when you discover and embrace who He created you to be.
