No secret ingredient

Ever had one of those moments where you're finally at point that you want to be in but there's some doubt lingering in the back of your mind about whether you're good enough for that position? Or where you look around at your competition and realize that there's just a lot you're missing to be like them? Isn't that exactly the point of being you though?

I've had this struggle since I was little. The struggle of never being good enough. My parents had a tough relationship and I felt the strain in the relationship so acutely that it affected how I treat some important things or people in life. No matter what I did to please my parents when I was younger, it just never seemed good enough...especially when it came to my mom. When I became a baptized believer, I thought I could practice the "goodness of my heart" to heaven. I kept falling flat on my face. I would never be good enough to be worth the sacrifice of an innocent man--never. That realization alone, as easy as it sounds, took me a while to accept. Now, as a work in progress, I've made it a life-journey to continue bettering myself and those around me, in light of that we'll never be perfect. God accepts us as we are but continues to work on and in us to make us more like Him: holy, loving, patient, kind, compassionate, serving, and always graceful.

So, as the year is quickly coming to an end...I've learned in the midst of a difficult summer, that there is no secret ingredient to greatness. We each have a seed that was planted in us since birth. Few of us have connected with the Gardener to tap into the extent of that greatness. Most of us thrive on surface of that greatness. It's ok to get scared and even doubt a little bit about our abilities and how far we can excel. The Master has endowed each and every one of us with many different gifts. It is up to us to trust that He will mature those gifts and provide the perfect opportunities for us to use them.

There is no secret ingredient to being you. We make decisions day-in and day-out. It's how well we decide and what we do in times of pressure in our lives, where the opportunities come up for us to 1) Trust God and 2) Do our part by running this race called life. Being you means not being someone else. We are not called to be like each other but like Him who made us. Since we are from Him, there is nothing that can stop us from getting where we want to be...but us.

I'm choosing not to get in own way and to believe in God and in me at all times. It'll be a struggle at times because I am human, I get upset and frustrated (this morning was a testament of that, ah well). At the end of the day, I stay open for the seed to germinate and take roots in order for the plant of greatness to grow and multiply in my life. Because I understand what I decide to do with my now will absolutely affect my tomorrow.

No secret ingredient...basics are God, you and faith.