Little Things

How are we perceived by strangers, or even friends and family? Are we always sought after when it comes to our looks? Or is it our personalities that attract other people to us? I like to think the latter, but I also know many who agree with the former.

Story time! When I was younger, I'll admit it, I was a cute kid. And so were my sisters! But today the three of us tend to agree that whenever we met new neighbors, my outgoing, younger sister would introduce us all, and if there were boys in the family, they'd befriend my older sister and want to go out with (or get married to) me.

As I grew up, mine and my sisters' personalities changed, as did people's opinions of us. Both of my sisters dated during high school, my older sister has had a boyfriend now for 4 years, and my younger sister knows exactly what she does and does not want in a man. I, on the other hand, have no idea what I'm doing and I never have!

Something I struggle with daily is that I will have to trust and surrender myself to God every uncertain day that I live, which right now, is a lot of days. For myself, I have always been quite in the dark about where my life is headed. And I think that's just the way it needs to be for me. When I can't see what's ahead of me, I lean more on God and I know He will be the one to keep me healthy and productive no matter where I go of what I do. He is the one completely orchestrating my life.

All this to say, I've, not always but at times, been unsure about things: my relationships with certain people, my career especially, and occasionally, my looks. Someone might say something that rubs me the wrong way, such as recently, "you don't look anything like your sister; Her jaw is chiseled and your face is more round." Seriously? Why should that bother me? I love the way I look. But it's others voicing their opinions of me that seems to get under my skin sometimes. Once one of my close friends said to me that I didn't make enough of an effort to get dressed for school in the morning. Sometimes it's a little thing that shouldn't matter so much, but when it's pointed out and there's nothing that can be done about it, one can get self-conscious of what he or she might consider a personal imperfection.

Speaking of which, brief rabbit trail, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and one of my friends had posted a video about a couple whose baby daughter died for four minutes after being newly born then was brought back to life when Jesus walked into the room and laid His hand on her. Throughout the entire ordeal, the couple had God's peace within them. They felt no fear at all and they knew that their daughter would come out well through all the impossibilities that stood in the way of their daughter's full recovery.

THIS video had a profound message that has stuck with me since I watched it and it has caused me to ask, 'why don't we have that peace with us all the time?' And off of that, why do we only thank God when something good happens to us or pray to Him when we need His help? We can thank him that we don't have a sore throat this morning or that we have an actual bed to sleep in or food to nourish us. What about thanking Him for our family members? Thanking Him that we have something as bothersome as a wart to remind us that we should be thankful for our skin the way it is. That people can like us for a combination of looks and personality. And that the only opinion that holds any weight belongs to God alone.

~ Olivia