Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how differently we view people once they’ve passed on. Back in Week 11 I talked about a distant friend committing suicide, and you guys have no idea how many times I’ve asked myself if my words could have made a difference. Maybe if I’d tried talking to him he wouldn’t have felt so alone. Maybe I could have reminded him how blessed and loved he was. But the thing is, what I thought about him can’t help him now, my words are of no positive use anymore. While they once had the potential to save a life, now they can only haunt me.
My point is, whether you think someone is kind, selfless, beautiful, handsome, loving, funny, amazing, wonderful, angelic, perfect, charming, faithful, dainty, elegant, thoughtful, cunning, fascinating, graceful, intelligent, honorable, talented, lively, lovely, or any other positive thing that there is, TELL THEM.
Don’t just sit there and think it to yourself. Let them know how you feel. Sometimes, you just have to randomly say “Katie, you’re adorable” during an ACTS retreat. (I know I did many, many times). Nine and a half times out of ten your words will mean more to them than you will ever know.
Why is this? Well, like I said in Week 25, we live with our qualities and characteristics everyday. At some point, they fade into the background and get pushed aside by all of our insecurities. Our peers are often the only ones that can see us as we truly are, and honestly, I don’t think that there’s anything more amazing or reassuring than having someone that you look up to tell you what they think about you.
We tend to assume that other people are confident, when more often than not their confidence is simply a mask that they wear. While we think that they’re swimming in the abundance of their blessings, they’re really drowning in a never-ending sea of their own insecurities.
What gets me, is that each and every one of us has the power to change the outlook of another person’s entire day, but instead of taking that risk we sit back and tell ourselves that they already know how we feel about them.
So my challenge to all of you wonderful people that are reading this post, is to throw aside your fears and step outside of your comfort zone to make someone else’s day just a little bit brighter. To make that ocean of insecurity that they’re trapped in become less and less overbearing, to where it just seems like a small puddle in comparison to the ocean of God’s grace.
HOW HE LOVES : DAVID CROWDER BAND He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realize just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me. And oh, how He loves us, oh, Oh, how He loves us, How He loves us all He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realise just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me. And oh, how He loves us, oh, Oh, how He loves us, How He loves us all Yeah, He loves us, Oh, how He loves us, Oh, how He loves us, Oh, how He loves. And we are His portion and He is our prize, Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, If his grace is an ocean, we're all sinking. And Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss, And my heart turns violently inside of my chest, I don't have time to maintain these regrets, When I think about the way... Yeah, He loves us, Oh, how He loves us... Oh, how He loves us... Oh, how He loves us.
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