Lens: A Poem
To the girl who aches deeply, but wants no one to see.
To the girl who feels like she can't.
To the discouraged, the weary, the spread thin.
An encouragement as you look for hope:
The lens through which we see
Can affect both you and me.
Like one who cannot spy the difference between
The color red and the color green
Our sights can prove faulty...
Yet it doesn't change the capacity of our capabilities.
The outflow of those talents,
The blessing of our lives
Are a correlation
Of how we see
And through whose eyes.
I actually wrote this for a friend. She was struggling with an eating disorder, or at least the mental battle part of it.
She asked, "How can someone so talented and blessed have so much self-hatred?"
Think about that. In all honesty, I have not always thought of myself in the kindest manner. I have dealt with some put downs to myself, from myself. Yet I know that I am blessed, and that God has gifted me. Her statement resonated with me, and vibrated the strings leading right to my heart... I knew what it was like to look in the mirror and not 100% love what I could see with my two eyes. I knew that I was not always kind to myself. I knew what it was like to feel like my own disappointment.
So to those who have ached deeply and wanted no one to see it, to those who have felt inadequate, discouraged, spread thin, and hopeless- know that that was me too. Pause and let that soak in. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. But please, friend, don't stay there. Don't stay hopeless. Don't stay discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8 says, "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you." (NLT).
Yeah, some days you might not love yourself like you know you should. But if you are already recognizing that, then you are on the way to seeing yourself like God sees you. Isn't that the goal? To see ourselves as God sees us- no more and no less than that! To look at ourselves through His lens. That sure sounds great, but I have asked over and over... WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???
Thus far, I believe that seeing ourselves as God sees us takes grace, humility to receive grace (both from God and ourselves), and communion with God. How can we see things like God does if we don't know what He values or how He works?
If you are a child of God, then I believe you are covered in the blood of Christ. God sees you with your Christ-cloak. He sees you as you are- new and whole in Him. He sees how He can fill up all your broken spaces with Wholeness and Love and Truth and Light. He sees your weaknesses as opportunities to show this world His Grace and Power and Might. He sees those special talents that he concocted to make up YOU, and he sees all of the blessings that He has enjoyed lavishing over your life.
So today, I don't know where you stand. I don't know if you love yourself, hate yourself, or find yourself somewhere in between. But I want to encourage you. If you are aching deeply inside, know that this too SHALL pass. Know that you are not completely and utterly alone, but that others have been through and made it through what you are going through. (Someone somewhere is bound to know what it's like, even if you don't know them directly.) Know that it is okay if life feels hard, but know that the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He promises to never fail you nor abandon you. He is with you.
I think it is always a good idea to double check: how does my view of myself align with the way God sees me?
In closing, I want to draw attention to the last bit of my poem. When we see ourselves through God's lens, we are humbled and in awe. It widens the awareness of those capabilities God has endowed us with, which opens the door for Him to use those talents in a greater way. It can increase our outflow, like a heavenly spigot that releases more of God into the atmosphere on earth. Seeing things through God's eyes also opens up our hearts to see the blessing He is always dousing our lives with. It's there, we just have to look and see it!
As always, I hope this post blesses you!
XOXO,
Melly
To the girl who feels like she can't.
To the discouraged, the weary, the spread thin.
An encouragement as you look for hope:
The lens through which we see
Can affect both you and me.
Like one who cannot spy the difference between
The color red and the color green
Our sights can prove faulty...
Yet it doesn't change the capacity of our capabilities.
The outflow of those talents,
The blessing of our lives
Are a correlation
Of how we see
And through whose eyes.
I actually wrote this for a friend. She was struggling with an eating disorder, or at least the mental battle part of it.
She asked, "How can someone so talented and blessed have so much self-hatred?"
Think about that. In all honesty, I have not always thought of myself in the kindest manner. I have dealt with some put downs to myself, from myself. Yet I know that I am blessed, and that God has gifted me. Her statement resonated with me, and vibrated the strings leading right to my heart... I knew what it was like to look in the mirror and not 100% love what I could see with my two eyes. I knew that I was not always kind to myself. I knew what it was like to feel like my own disappointment.
So to those who have ached deeply and wanted no one to see it, to those who have felt inadequate, discouraged, spread thin, and hopeless- know that that was me too. Pause and let that soak in. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. But please, friend, don't stay there. Don't stay hopeless. Don't stay discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8 says, "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you." (NLT).
Yeah, some days you might not love yourself like you know you should. But if you are already recognizing that, then you are on the way to seeing yourself like God sees you. Isn't that the goal? To see ourselves as God sees us- no more and no less than that! To look at ourselves through His lens. That sure sounds great, but I have asked over and over... WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???
Thus far, I believe that seeing ourselves as God sees us takes grace, humility to receive grace (both from God and ourselves), and communion with God. How can we see things like God does if we don't know what He values or how He works?
If you are a child of God, then I believe you are covered in the blood of Christ. God sees you with your Christ-cloak. He sees you as you are- new and whole in Him. He sees how He can fill up all your broken spaces with Wholeness and Love and Truth and Light. He sees your weaknesses as opportunities to show this world His Grace and Power and Might. He sees those special talents that he concocted to make up YOU, and he sees all of the blessings that He has enjoyed lavishing over your life.
So today, I don't know where you stand. I don't know if you love yourself, hate yourself, or find yourself somewhere in between. But I want to encourage you. If you are aching deeply inside, know that this too SHALL pass. Know that you are not completely and utterly alone, but that others have been through and made it through what you are going through. (Someone somewhere is bound to know what it's like, even if you don't know them directly.) Know that it is okay if life feels hard, but know that the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He promises to never fail you nor abandon you. He is with you.
I think it is always a good idea to double check: how does my view of myself align with the way God sees me?
In closing, I want to draw attention to the last bit of my poem. When we see ourselves through God's lens, we are humbled and in awe. It widens the awareness of those capabilities God has endowed us with, which opens the door for Him to use those talents in a greater way. It can increase our outflow, like a heavenly spigot that releases more of God into the atmosphere on earth. Seeing things through God's eyes also opens up our hearts to see the blessing He is always dousing our lives with. It's there, we just have to look and see it!
As always, I hope this post blesses you!
XOXO,
Melly
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