It's not you, it's me

Personal Photo: Lettuce anyone? Clay snapped this photo of me in our sea of lettuce, and while it is an overwhelming amount of lettuce to try and consume, I find it amusing that we have so much. What a blessing!

I crouched down in our garden, and I grabbed a handful of lettuce at the base of the stem and cut, placing the bunch in my bag before repeating the action. The air was cool for an early June evening and the recent rain had made our volunteer lettuce from the previous year grow with vigor. I paused to take in my surroundings: the wispy clouds above my head, the muffled sound of music from my phone in my pocket, the echos of laughter and playful barks as Clay and Jersey ran through the backyard together, the breeze causing my bangs to ruffle against my forehead. I love simplicity, and to me, it means appreciating the slower moments of life, the quiet places where the sun cascades, the noticing of things long forgotten or overlooked. I recalled earlier that week while I was at work, listening to the wish lists and recent purchases of some of my coworkers, considering how I would change my life if I could, and settled on the peaceful reality that I wouldn't.

While my life is no different than others in the sense that my peace and simplicity often come after and before waves of chaos and challenge, it took me a majority of my life to reckon with the quietness I often seek. In high school, college, and beyond we have all struggled to feel as though we fit in, to keep up with the popular crowd, to be noticed by the group that everyone wanted to be in. The noise of the world around us often calls us to do what others consider normal or cool. It is part of our nature to want to keep up, to be included, to be accepted.

I was asked at work one day how I don't have a fear of missing out, because the others were going out to lunch and I did not go. It took me a minute to ponder this question and consider my answer. I continued to think about it throughout the evening. I landed on the fact that I was comfortable being myself and did not need to focus on what others were doing in order to feel accepted. I realized that the actions of other people did not need to create a reaction out of me. I believe this concept is applicable in numerous different ways, and I find the theme popping up in my life and in the lives of my loved ones. It can be easy to be swept into the current of other people's opinions, problems, emotions, and actions, but in no scenario does it mean that those must be adopted by us. We have the chance to love and care for and about others without letting their identities impact our own.

We all find our own versions of peace in different places and in different ways, however, this only comes when we first seek the acceptance of God. We struggle to accept ourselves if we do not live for God's acceptance. Deuteronomy 4:24 tells us that "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." This verse expresses to us how God feels when we place worldly people and things above Him in our lives. His type of jealousy is a Godly one, explaining to us how much we are loved, and how He is deeply passionate about each and every one of us. He crafted us specially with His hands, and we give Him glory when we listen to how the Holy Spirit guides us, teaches us, and shows us how to be better children of God. We cannot depend on the world to do this for us, but rather we must remain faithful when our peers are struggling with their own worldliness.

I mentioned above that other people's actions do not always call for a reaction. My dad often says to "never miss a good chance to say nothing," meaning that sometimes silence is more powerful than giving into the temptation of reacting to the actions of someone else. When we live our lives for Christ, we become a target for the devil and his workers. We might be judged, attacked, and more because we have what the world can never provide: everlasting life and eternal peace. In this way, we can recognize how important it is that we respond like Jesus would when we are under attack, rather than matching the emotion and attitude of those who are doing the attacking. 1 John 2:15-17 reminds us of this concept when it states: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." This passage applies more than just to being under attack from the devil, but also just in general comparison. When we struggle with our own worldliness, these verses remind us to focus on pleasing God, on living our life for Him rather than for others. As long as God accepts and approves of our actions, it makes no difference how the world behaves.

I want to be clear that I am not encouraging us to focus only selfishly when we encounter people in different walks of faith, but rather to remind us that someone else's actions need not be adopted as our own. We do not need to cater our behavior to the crowd in the room, nor adjust our actions to be dependent upon the actions of others. When we seek first the acceptance of God and lean into the people He crafted us to be, we have the ability to view the world through the amazing grace that God gives to us. It allows us to show empathy, gratitude, and compassion for those around us, and therefore gives us the chance to grow closer to the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:6-7 reads "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." Here we understand the importance of depending on our faith, of remembering we are made by Him, and focusing on these things when we are working to bring others to Christ.

Spending our time and energy on the world around us can be exhausting. Rather than trying to keep up with the pack, it is important to remember that God calls us to bring others to His light, to lead them to His glory. We cannot do this when we adopt the attitudes and identities of the world. When we seek God's acceptance first, we find the peace that we all seek. When that peace is found, we have the chance to be proactive rather than reactive in the things we do. Rather than responding to the world in a worldly manor, we can respond knowing that we are saved by the grace that God has given to us!