30 Day Writing Challenge
Day 2: Write something that someone told you about yourself that you never forgot.

She wrote on a notecard in colored ink. She wrote on 200 notecards in colored ink – words that were beautiful, words that were kind, words that were a gift and spoke into my soul. Words I didn’t deserve, but that spoke life to me because I felt like she saw deeply into who I really am – and when someone sees deeply into who you are meant to be and articulates it – you never forget it.

One precious line in particular resonated in my heart and comes back to mind when I’m at my lowest – when I doubt myself and feel less than loved:

“You are the purest beauty, but not the common kind. You have a way about you that makes people feel alive.”

She was overly generous in such a statement, but it is the truth that that is what I’ve always wanted to be. I have eagerly desired to live a life that touches other lives and makes them dare to dream of more – the kind of life that inspires and points people back to the true meaning of their lives – to live and work passionately for Christ.

I desire to open people’s eyes to the color and joy of life all around them – to be a living spark that dances its way into their hearts and chases away the gloom – to remind them, if only for a short time, that life is more meaningful than the problems currently facing them.

I fall short of this goal so often – daily. But the fact that someone whom I know and love dearly took the time to write it down and give it to me as a gift shows that perhaps I am accomplishing it a little bit. And because she saw that in me, it encourages me to keep on having the courage to live it out today. It motivates me to not let her down – to be the person that she said I am.

This is what’s so life-giving about words of affirmation. They have the power to affirm someone for who they truly are – to remind them in their darkest hour that they are more than the lies of negativity that swarm their minds constantly. Life is quick to drag us down. We therefore need to be quick to build others up, and tell them what we see in them. Not only will it encourage them in the moment, but it will help them to remember what they should be striving for daily – to keep being the person God meant them to be. He knows us intimately because He designed us with a purpose. We sometimes are quick to forget that purpose.

So today – let’s help each other not forget. Let’s write reminders of God’s grace in our lives – His fingerprints all over our being intended to shine out His glory. We are the living temple of the risen Savior. Let our lives glow with worship back to Him.