God Made Me This Way

This morning I read the January 7th entry in my Streams in the Desert devotional, and it really touched my heart. Particularly a simple, yet beautiful little story:

A story is told of a king who went to his garden one morning, only to find everything withered and dying. He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was. The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree. The pine tree was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grapevine. The grapevine was determined to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and produce fruit as large as peaches. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.
And so it went throughout the garden. Yet coming to a violet, the king found its face bright and happy as ever and said, "Well, violet, I'm glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of this discouragement. You don't seem to be the least disheartened." The violet responded, "No, I'm not. I know I'm small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be."

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. (Philippians 4:11)

I'm so guilty of wasting precious time comparing myself to other people and wishing I was a little bit different or more like someone else. Silly things, like wishing my hair was straighter, or that I wasn't quite so tall, or that I could sing like Carrie Underwood. Newsflash: my hair is curly, I'm 5'10", and I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

But God made me this way.

When I think about it, it seems absolutely ridiculous that I would want to change the things that make me unique. Striving to be something or someone I'm not is positively futile. So why waste all the time and energy? Why not channel it all toward honing the skills I do have and learning how to better appreciate who God created me to be?

I recently finished reading So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore. (It's an incredible book and I highly recommend it to every woman on the planet.) The book basically identifies the main roots of insecurity and discusses how to firmly establish your security in Christ. If there's one thing I learned, it's that insecurity does absolutely nothing for us or for anyone else, and allowing it to fester is 100% destructive. Simply put, that is not how we were created to live.

[She] will not fear evil tidings; [her] heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. [Her] heart is upheld, [she] will not fear, until [she] looks with satisfaction on [her] adversaries. (Psalm 112: 7-8). THIS is how we were created to live.

I am the way I am because God wants me this way.
You are the way you are because God wants you that way.
We are completely and intentionally unique.
Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

I believe with all my heart that life as we know it would be nothing more than an absurd fleeting thought had we all been created exactly the same. And I'm willing to bet that if we were all the same, we'd be wasting our time wishing we were different.

I know that the King wanted a Kaila Arielle Bowlin, so I'm determined to be the best little Kaila Arielle Bowlin I can be.


"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it's stupid." - Albert Einstein