Day 134 – You Be You, Let Others Figure It OutYou can never please everyone, never. So, don’t try. Live an awesome life of love, excellence, fairness, compassion, happiness, patience, understanding, and kick your own butt. Whatever people like or don’t like, understand or can’t grasp, that’s all on them.
You are the Image of God. Every human is, but most humans don’t know it. This is something we each must be told, then we must accept. What exactly it means to be the Image of God—what all we are capable of and how we “should” act—is a deep question we will neither answer nor exhaust. The more questions you answer, the more questions you’ll have. The more you understand, the more you’ll tally how tiny your understanding floats in the ocean of all there is to explore.
So, when you encounter someone who has explored and learned what it means to be the Image of God, that person will naturally confound you, surprise you, irritate you, seem in need of your “fixing”, and do things that make no sense—to you. You’ll ask why, the answer will confound, surprise, and irritate you all the more. Expect this from people who know what they are doing and expect that you will seem the same way to others, the less incompetent you get.
Sunshine is healthy, killing bad things and creating vitamin D, but it will burn skin that lacks exposure. The sun would do no favor by not shining to avoid burning people. Don’t become foolish just so people can “understand” you. Stay steady and stay on target. The more stable and constant you are, the more people will anticipate what you do, the more they will understand you—all because your revamped worldview is spreading to the world around you.
There is great pressure to dumb down your standards and conduct—to stop living by financial smarts, shrewd stewardship, good chivalry, wise survival. People would rather you be dead—and them weeping at your funeral—than for you to not make instant sense.
Don’t give in.
Be charming. Use compassion. Elaborate when welcome. But, your life’s results are your best explanation. Living godly and strongly, even when misunderstood, is best for everyone.
