Be yourself

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In his book Seeds of New Hope Thomas Merton observes that “a tree gives glory to God by being a tree.”  I often recite this phrase like I mantra in my head as a reminder that my only job is to be my most authentic self.  I’ve discovered that the more I embrace the person God made me, the more I’m able to love God.  And, really, that’s the only thing I can offer to God and to the world.

          Ann Kansfield, Be the Brave One

______________________________________

 

Here is to the weird ones.

The skinny late bloomer ones.

The quiet ones

The loud ones

The confused ones

The Lost ones

 

Here is to the macho ones

Roaring down the road in their pickups

Here is to the musical ones

The creative ones

The queer ones*

 

Here is to all those who are different

And are trying so hard not to be

All those who feel as if they are not enough

And are trying so hard to be

 

Someone others value

Accept

Ah, yes, and love

 

You are a child of God

Just as you are!

 

Try, yes try

To be your authentic self

Your

Authentic

Self

 

Not someone else’s

 

Just be who you were born to be

Quiet and shy

Loud and confident

Cis

Queer

It doesn’t matter

 

You are

You might never have been,

But here you are!

 

And the world would be incomplete without you

 

You are loved

You participate in the love

The love that brought all into being

 

And you are here for a reason

Not sure what that reason is?

 

Then stop

Breathe

Be your self

That is your one job

 

Stop

Breathe

Look around

“The place God calls you to

is the place where your deep gladness

and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  (Frederick Buechner)

 

Not your greatest guilt

Your greatest joy

 

In all joy take your authentic self

And touch the pain with the joy of you

 

“Where your feet take you

That IS you” (Buechner again)

 

So don’t hide

Don't try so hard

Don’t live in fear

Don’t be led into evil by people

Who hate everyone (and probably themselves too)

 

Be your authentic

Self

One loved by God

And thus able to love yourself

And those around you.

 

It is as simple and complex

As that

 

For you give glory to God

Simply by being you

 

____________________

*The word queer is used intentionally in this post to refer to people whose identities are outside of heteronormative, binary gender or sexuality. Queer was once a pejorative term used in ridicule, but today the word has been reclaimed as an expression of LGBTQIA+ pride.