One of My Summer Challenges...

Quite often people see January as a good time for goal setting, New Year's resolutions, self-evaluation, etc, as do I, but there is also a couple other pivitol times of the year for me.

September feels like the "start" of the new year quite often, mainly due to the fact that I am a teacher and things kick into full swing in God's house (where I am blessed to have the opportunity to serve and do life).

Another pivitol time is starting this week for me. Evolve classes are over, my music students are on break till September, and things have now slowed down (be it ever-so-slightly) in the House. People around me are making their plans for summer holiday excursions, pulling out their flipflops & shorts, and shifting into "chill mode". I myself have begun indulging in all those routines, minus the shorts, as I plan to spend my summer in DRESSES and flipflops. Loveliness.

Having said all that, I have also made a decision in the midst of this chill season...I am going to do A LOT of reading this summer. I want to read 2 books each week!! If I stick to the plan, by the time things kick back into full swing on September 5th, I will have enjoyed 22 books!

This might sound exhausting to some, but I am over-the-moon about it. Reading is refreshing for me, it stirs my spirit, creates somewhat of an awakening in me. It stretches my "tent pegs" and increases my capacity.

So, I will be sharing this journey with you readers, somewhat, if you don't mind! Not really a summary, but more a description of the change these books will bring in me, the enlarging they will cause to happen.

This week's reads arrived in the mail only yesterday, so I have only a half week to finish them. I have already begun reading "Shame and Grace", a book recommended to me by a spiritual dad in my world (one who inspires me with his never-back-down, always-be-growing way of life). It has already captivated me, and it is causing a shift deep within my spirit. The second book, which I will start tomorrow, is "The Art of Possibility", recommended by a lovely Vancouverite gal who dares to fill her world with nothing but possibility. I can't wait to read it!

I can't help but feel like this summer is going to be full of treasured moments, seeing the goodness of God around every corner. He takes such great delight in us, it's incredible!!

So...
What are your summer plans?

xoxo Mir

Comparison: EXPOSED

In a culture burdened with striving to "keep up with the Jones", to always have the latest technology, and worst of all, the weight of trying to look like some half-contrived-version of those computer enhanced magazine beauties (even THEY wish they looked like THAT), it's no wonder that so many have lost their own unique sense of identity.

Do you KNOW who you are? Do you KNOW who created you, and that He NEVER makes mistakes? To be quite honest, I'm just starting to scratch the surface myself. Just beginning to hear the beautiful answers to these questions.

For a great portion of my life up until this point, I have struggled with self-loathing, distorted mirror views, the tug-of-war between what I'm told to be true and what I actually believe about myself, and the biggest "ugly" of all...COMPARISON.

Why do we compare ourselves to other people??
It's a paradox really.
God created us as unique, one-of-a-kind beauties, fashioned in His image, and yet we look at what we have and want something else, or look at what we don't have and pine after it.

Here lies the problem...

When we compare ourselves to others we are quite often matching our weakness against their strength, and feeling like we don't measure up in some way. Well of course we are gonna feel discouraged doing that! Just as they would if they were to match their weakness against our strength!

If you are vertically challenged like me, perhaps you find yourself looking at some tall, blonde, legs-for-days beauty, wishing you could just grow, whining that "if I was only that tall i could...".

Maybe you are gorgeous, matching society's view of beauty in every way, yet find yourself wishing people would notice how brilliant you are, and not just how you look. You envy the "average" girl...as if God made such a person.

No matter your struggle, the result is the same. We end up discouraged whenever we try to compare ourselves to anyone or anything. It's the enemy's tactic to make you feel this way. It's his great pleasure to make you wish you were someone else, because he knows all-to-well, that if you got even a glimpse of who God created you to be, he would be SCREWED. So he keeps his hooks of comparison locked deep.

Who are we to compare anyways, when the creator of the universe made us, stood back and declared "it is GOOD"!?!

You and I are beautiful BEYOND COMPARE:

Song of Solomon 4:6
"The sweet, fragrant curves of your body, the soft, spiced contours of your flesh Invite me, and I come. I stay until dawn breathes its light and night slips away. You're beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless."

That's how He sees us!! Incredible.

I know it's one thing to read that today, or hear it spoken to you, but it's another thing to believe it, to let it go deep into your spirit, to let it bring a change to your belief about yourself. That's where Holy Spirit comes in. He longs to GIVE you the gift of revelation. He wants to REVEAL to you the mysteries of God's love towards you, to see yourself the way He sees you.

You are beautiful beyond compare. You have captured His heart with one glance of your eye. He has made you unique, beautiful, incredible.

Don't waste another second comparing yourself to someone else. You are you. They are not. No one is better suited for the role of you than you!

You are more lovely than you ever imagined.