Are You Being All You Can Be?

*My apologies to the United States Army for appropriating their byline.

When I was little, we often went for sleepovers at my Grandma Willenbrecht’s house, where we drank whole milk unfiltered from a local farm, looked at children’s books she had made herself by pasting magazine pictures of animals into scrapbooks, and made cassette tapes for my parents. I remember standing over the cassette recorder reading poems and singing songs. It was one of my favorite activities. 

Eight months ago I was unemployed and wondering what to do with myself. The Lord flooded my world with encouragement to use my words again, after being quiet for a very long time. I was deep-cleaning my office and went through a whole file drawer full of nothing but ideas I had scribbled down of things I wanted to write about some day. As I organized them, I realized I had the roots of three books growing in there. Then I dusted a shelf under my desktop, where I found encouraging notes about my writing, from friends and family, that I had been tucking away for years. I sat on the floor of my office and cried my way through those. (Thank you especially to my mom and daughter who repeatedly wrote soul-bolstering notes to me over the years.) I felt like some mysterious author who had been hermitted away in a hidden cabin in the woods who was ready to show up in the city and hurl books out into the crowds again.

Are you familiar with Substack? It’s a newer social media platform. I set up camp over there, because that’s where my coolest of writer friends have migrated. And I discovered an amazing little tool. You could record an audio version of the article you had written for readers to listen to. I experimented with it and was Immediately transported back to my grandma’s house, with the smell of fried chicken in the air and the cassette recorder in front of me. In that moment, a hunger to speak came to life.

Last November, I started turning on the camera and speaking on Instagram and Facebook. The six-year-old at grandma’s house came alive –this time with an iPhone instead of a cassette. This time with audio and visual. Still homemade and nothing fancy. All of those little notes I had tucked in my desk drawer started coming to life. I challenged myself to spend the next decade speaking to women about how to build vibrant, thriving homes.

Not too long ago, I saw Charles Swindoll (90-something years old) speaking about one of the greatest achievements a person can have in this life. He said it was to find out who you are and be that. Yes, I thought. At this age of 57 I am figuring out that I am the girl who is happy in front of the blank word document and the cassette recorder and the iPhone, sharing all of the hard-earned wisdom God has given me over the decades.

Why do I tell you all of this? First, because you have convinced me with your warm emails that you are my friends, so I figure you care what God is up to in my life. But more than that, I just have one question: Who are you? 

Who are you? And are you being that? 

I know very few of you who would raise your hand and say, “Please let me make videos on Instagram!” But I know ever so many of you who are very special in your own way, because God made you and his works are wonderful. Don’t we know that full well? So I’m super curious to know if you’ve figured out how he has shaped you and if you’re determined to spend the next decade of your life being that. What are your talents? What is your personality? What are your spiritual gifts? What are your passions and life experiences? How do all of those things meld together to make you 100% uniquely you? More than anything, what makes you lean forward in your chair? What makes your eyes light up? 

Years ago, I sat across from a woman who bemoaned the fact that she seemed to have no passion for anything. We continued our conversation, and she talked about how she would give anything to be the person who was there when children had to be removed from their homes, to be the loving safe arms they needed in that worst moment of their lives. I watched her slowly scoot forward in her chair, and her face grew in animation. I started laughing. (Not as rude as it sounds.)

“What?” she said.

“You’re right,” I said. “You don’t have any passion about anything.” A shocked expression came over her face, as she realized for the first time that she was, indeed, a passionate person and had something incredible to offer in the world. We spent time talking about how she could lean into that yearning to help those kids in their moment of trauma. 

So don’t tell me there’s nothing special about you. Passion isn’t always loud with a microphone. Passion doesn’t demand a cassette tape or an Instagram audience. Passion can be a very quiet ember that warms and lights whatever it touches. (Like a very quiet mom and a very quiet daughter writing notes of encouragement to an insecure writer struggling to find her voice and the courage to use it.) 

Oh yes, you are something. 

I went to a funeral this summer and learned that our friend who had died made lunch for a group of teenage boys every week and had them over to his home. Now that’s something! He was a God-fearing man, and I can only imagine the influence he had over those young men. He loved to cook and loved people. He did it. He was fully himself.  

Who are you? Tell me. I’d love to hear!

Figure out who you are and be that person with everything you’ve got. Wouldn’t it be great to finish your life having accomplished that task?

Need help with this?

I have years of experience helping women dive into who God has made them to be. Contact me for individual coaching.