DEVOTION: MAY 5

I won’t jump into a heated discussion, espousing my thoughts and opinions on the fly. My mind doesn’t work that way; I have to marinate and ponder, taking time to slow-process my way through both sides before arriving at my conclusion.

I remember moments with senses; a walk to watch the sunset, a meal out on the patio. Riding bikes on the beach, the smell of cigars under a summer moon. How the sun warmed my face, or the birds sounded in the trees, or the way the leaves moved in the spring breeze and the way the setting light filtered through.

It exhausts me to hear loud voices telling me I’m wrong for not stating an opinion. I’m weary of the shouts of others telling me I’m not hustling enough, platforming enough, taking advantage of opportunities enough. Why can’t what’s good for you be good for just you? Why does what’s good for you also have to be good for me?

God conceived me to be able to see multiple perspectives, and to be slow to speak. He created me to engage in His creation and feel His goodness in it. He made me crave slowing down, recharging, finding peace in the ordinary. His hand formed a natural inclination to offer my thoughts quietly and carefully, and to value His Truth over my feelings.

We compare and we contrast and we assign ourselves labels like broken and undesirable and damaged. But He calls what He formed good and set apart. How you’re wired isn’t a mistake or wrong. Maybe you just need to flip your perspective to see yourself how God does.

It’s time to fully be who you are, friend. Stop calling that woman in the mirror names. She was formed in the very image of God, to bring a beautiful offering of herself to Him and His people. It’s time to be who you are.

“We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!” (Ephesians 2:10, The Passion Translation)

—Monica