My kids have all sorts of feelings about me using their (our) pictures on this blog. They know I tell stories to encourage people like you, and that a huge majority of the stories in this season of my life, include them. As a result, their pictures become part of the blog. There was a time when this was embarrassing and frustrating for them, so we made some agreements about pre-secured consents and approvals. But lately, for whatever reason, they’ve begun to enjoy my sharing of their maturing faces.
Like this one.
I was sitting on the back porch last night, buried in a pile of summer camp registration papers, when this charming young lad entered the scene. He was sweaty and breathing heavily after just returning from long bike ride around the neighborhood, telling me all about the places he’d been. When I looked up, all I could say was, “Who are you?!” He laughed at my odd question and granted my permission to take (& share) this picture. He may look like a little boy to you, but when I looked up, all I could see was a teenager. A teenager who is discovering who he is.
He’s never been one to go with the flow.
While Scott and Noah were upstairs playing ping-pong, this one is cruising the neighborhood, shooting hoops and jumping on the trampoline. While we’re all wanting to chill at the table after dinner or watch a movie on the couch, he’s begging us to go outside to play. All through the early years, while we were trying to steer our kids into sports like golf, tennis, basketball and soccer, this one was learning to love football at recess. In these recent “transition” years, while most boys are learning to be more aggressive, tough, and thick-skinned, this one is working hard on practicing self-control, using words for feelings, and caring for others. (He’s already got all the others in the bag, trust me.)
It’s a beautiful thing to watch him embrace who he’s becoming.
Do you ever look up into the mirror with that same question in your mind?
Who are you?!
Do you see a grown up body, but you don’t know exactly where the years have gone, or how they’ve gone so quickly? Do you see someone who chose not to go with the flow? Someone who took a different path? Does it ever feel like while other people are learning one thing in this season, your life has led you to work hard to learn something entirely different?
Are you a different person than you once expected to be?
I want you to know that it is a beautiful thing to watch who you’re becoming.
If you’ve taken the time to read this blog, you’re a person who is working hard on yourself. You’re not looking for beauty tips or fat loss tricks (although of course, those are likely also a part of your journey). But today, right now, you are seeking encouragement, and a bit of wisdom on your journey. You’re making yourself and your personal growth a priority, and that’s such a beautiful thing.
Your journey doesn’t look like everyone else’s.
Thank God for that. What makes you different, makes you so beautiful. Your struggles, your triumphs, your all-out battles, your falling down, your figuring out a way to get back up, your heart, your mind, your body, and your soul. . . they’ve all made you. They are still making you.
Who are you?
You are exactly the one we need.
You are beautiful.
to more love,
Crystal
