Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

BOXES ARE FOR CEREAL, NOT PEOPLE                                                                                                                      Sandra Garton Breech

 

The above words blasted into my brain as I was once again wondering “what on earth is making this so impossible?”  That thought occurs to me often as I am usually trying to learn to do something far outside my comfort zone (or I am multitasking on a ridiculous level.  Example:  I just watered my flowerbed for over an hour because I started writing and forgot the time.  Luckily, in this heat, it is basically impossible to overwater anything. Yes, I am so very human.) But I digress.  Back to “Why am I usually trying to do something far outside my comfort zone?”

At this particular moment in time, I realize that I am trying to fit into a box that someone else has defined as the way to do things.  I am trying to do what the world says is the path to success.  Wow!  That’s a really foolish choice for someone whose sister has always told her, “You march to a different drummer.”  Then, why am I trying to cram myself into a box that hinders rather than helps me?  I think the answer is fairly simple, as it often is.  It’s the seeing the answer that is the hard part.  Because I am unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or both with what I am trying to do, I fall into the trap of “someone else knows how to do this, and I need to follow that path.”  What is brilliantly successful for someone else may never be helpful for me.  Why?  Because I am not that person; I am different, and that is okay.  Being uniquely myself is the whole point of this journey we take in life.

God created each of us to be a glorious one-of-a-kind masterpiece.  With that kind of God-given glory running through my veins, I choose to be totally and completely myself.  Why?  BECAUSE BOXES ARE FOR CEREAL, NOT PEOPLE NAMED SANDY, OR SHELBY, OR GRANT, OR LAURA, OR JANE, OR…

 

Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

At 5:17 AM on Friday, January 2, 2023, I heard God talk to me…and it was loud, and it was strong.  His words exploded into my soul with a wonder and a light that filled it to bursting.  IT BROUGHT ME HOME to the realization that I could fulfill God’s plan for me in this earthly journey.

Long ago I answered God’s call to be one of His healing resources for His hurting children.  Yet, I have been haunted by an awareness that I have never quite understood or fulfilled that promise.  I kept trying, but I ran into wall after wall until I was often broken, bleeding, and exhausted.  For some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I was failing to keep my word.  Yet, this morning at 5:17 AM central time, I finally understood why.

The truth is I always had the answer.  That answer is a natural part of who I am, but I had lost it with the toxic struggle to be seen and heard in the material world.  I am a licensed professional counselor and a spiritual being on a God-ordained human journey.  With this simple question, I offer all that I am.

HOW CAN I HELP?

 

Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

ST. THERESE

 

        She said, “May today there be peace within.  May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you .  May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.  It is there for each and every one of us.”

 

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a world that reflects St. Therese’s words.  Can you see it?  Can you see yourself living in a world that honors you as exactly who you are — a world that allows “your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love?”

Keep your eyes closed and experience this place.  As your mind embraces the beauty and wonder of a world of light and love rather than a world of darkness and hate, your body begins to experience a lightness that it can only vaguely remember.  You see yourself as the joyful child you were before the world blew holes in you and locked you in a prison of pain.    Suddenly, miraculously,  the fear of being “less than” and of enduring the excruciating pain that you believe the world inflicts on you because you are “less than” vanishes.  You are free!  The wonder of being free fills your eyes with tears of joy.

Open your eyes!   The picture of the life and the world that St. Therese paints is exactly what God intended for you all along.

Freedom or fear?   You have the God-given free will power to set yourself free.  CHOOSE!

 

Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

PHENOMENAL WOMAN

By Maya Angelou

 

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It’s the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing of my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 

Maya Angelou chose to shine as herself rather than as the person the world told her she had to be in order to be accepted…and it made all the difference to her and to the world.  Who would you be if you chose to shine as yourself?  Your light just might transform the world…and you.

 

 

 

Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

ST. THERESE

 

        She said, “May today there be peace within.  May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you .  May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.  It is there for each and every one of us.”

 

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a world that reflects St. Therese’s words.  Can you see it?  Can you see yourself living in a world that honors you as exactly who you are — a world that allows “your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love?”

Keep your eyes closed and experience this place.  As your mind embraces the beauty and wonder of a world of light and love rather than a world of darkness and hate, your body begins to experience a lightness that it can only vaguely remember.  You see yourself as the joyful child you were before the world blew holes in you and locked you in a prison of pain.    Suddenly, miraculously,  the fear of being “less than” and of enduring the excruciating pain that you believe the world inflicts on you because you are “less than” vanishes.  You are free!  The wonder of being free fills your eyes with tears of joy.

Open your eyes!   The picture of the life and the world that St. Therese paints is exactly what God intended for you all along.

Freedom or fear?   You have the God-given free will power to set yourself free.  CHOOSE!