Do you need a do-over?
You made a mistake, said words you wish could be taken back, walked away when you should have stayed (or stayed when you should have walked away). You desperately wish you could go back and undo the moment, rewind time, and make another choice, but instead you’re left picking up the pieces.
Or maybe everything is okay, but real life feels vanilla — boring and mundane and just plain ordinary.
The days all run together, each one looking like yesterday. You’re waiting for an adventure, for something exciting to come, or simply for tomorrow to look different than today.
Maybe as you read these words, you find yourself thinking, “Actually, everything is going pretty well right now!” Miraculously, all the plates you’re spinning are staying in the air. You’re finally comfortable in your own skin, you’ve found an encouraging friend group, you’re plugged into a Bible study, the to-do list on the counter continues to shrink in size, and you’re committed to doing the hard work of creating healthy relationships with those around you.
Day after day you pour yourself out and on paper, all seems well, but you feel it rising under the surface, a question lurking in your mind: what happens when the plates drop?
I want to remind you of what truth says about you today, no matter where you are as you read these words. The Maker of your heart and Author of your story has this to say:
You are more than your to-do list…
You are more than a report card or the project you just turned in…
You are more than your Twitter followers, Instagram likes, and blog stats…
You are more than what he or she said once upon a time…
You are more than what you do (or don’t do) on a Friday night…
You are more than how many children or books you have birthed…
You are more than the clothes you wear and the car you drive…
***
Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.
2 Corinthians 5:16-20, MSG
***
Perhaps you messed up and made a mistake, but you are not a mistake.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Your past does not define you; this is not how the story ends. @kaitlyn_bouch ” quote=”Your past does not define you; this is not how the story ends. @kaitlyn_bouch ”]
Maybe your right-now life is a string of regular days and it’s hard to remember that ordinary is beautiful, too. Look a little harder, though, because you’ll find Him in the midst of the mundane.
And as for all those plates spinning in the air… the lists, the expectations (those placed on you and those you’ve put on your own two shoulders)… what if we all chose to let it go today? What if we determined to do our very best, to show up and love others well, living with open hands because we’re confident that God is ultimately the One in control?
You are a new creation, redeemed and made whole, holy and blameless in the eyes of He who is not concerned about a to-do list, your GPA, or how many likes you got on Instagram.
According to truth, you are so much more.
