What's Your Glory-Color?

I've been thinking a lot about how God designed me . . . well, actually, I've been complaining. I trust that God has designed me in a specific way, so I can fulfill a specific purpose in life. I love to write, and I know that writing is a big part of my design and plan. However, as I look over each of my posts and read what I have written, I can't help but think, "Dang it, Alisa! You are always so serious!"

I remember one time I got so sick of my melancholy writing that I wrote a brilliantly funny post (at least in my mind). I always enjoy women who write funny blogs, and I so appreciate their gift-offering of a smile and a laugh. So, on my funny post I wrote about boobs and my boys peeing off the deck. I couldn't wait to read the comments.

That night when I tried to sleep, I felt Holy Spirit tell me to take the post off my blog. I tried ignoring the Holy Spirit and later rationalizing His words. Finally, though, I flung the covers off me, stumbled to the computer room and deleted my wonderfully witty post. And God sat me down and told me, "You write for me alone."

"Yes, God," I whispered and crawled back into bed.

Later, as I was thinking over these things, my identical twin sister called me with a spiritual breakthrough God had given her. My sister and I look a lot a like, but the core of who we are, how we view life and how we interact with God are completely different. Our perspectives are so unique that we have to discuss everything to pieces just to ensure that there is no misunderstandings that would translate into hurt feelings.

She admitted that reading my blog and reading other Christian writers' blogs made her feel that she was spiritually lagging -- that maybe her relationship with Christ wasn't as strong. But what she realized is that her purpose is very different than mine and the writers she has been reading, so her interactions with God and her understanding of spirituality will also be different. She decided that there is nothing wrong with not always being so serious, and I wanted to yell out, "Thank God! I can barely handle my own seriousness."

My sister is positive and funny. She makes people laugh and feel comfortable. She goes out of her way to ensure harmony, and she does it all to the glory of God!

I truly think that when God created people, He fitted each of us with a tiny and unique slice of His glory. I imagine God's glory as a giant ball of a million-billions colors -- colors that we can't even comprehend on this earth. And He placed an individual hue of His multi-colored beauty into each of His children. Yes, some of the hues may look very similar from a distance; but on closer inspection, they are each very distinct.

Our mission is to shine that tiny color of God's glory and fight the urge to blend it with the other colors around us. My twin sister's glory-color may be a golden-pink and my glory-color may be a silvery-blue, and our lens of life will be tinted by our colors. That is why it is so important for us not to judge and compare. God gave us each a unique design and purpose. We will all express love differently, reveal God's glory differently, relate to spiritual truths differently and interact with Jesus differently. But if we are seeking to know God more, there is no wrong answer - just wonderful variety.

I can imagine God in His million-billion color grandeur gathering up His children in His arms; and once we are resting against the pulsating of His being, we each simultaneously shoot out our own glory-color, creating a miniature replica of His majesty. We are each created in the image of God, and we daily become more Christlike and beautiful by letting go of sin. Maybe we should stop trying to change people and stop trying to change ourselves and start allowing God's glory to shine through the design He intended us to be.

No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God
destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age
understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"— but God has revealed it
to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of
God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit
within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit
of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from
God, that we may understand what God has freely given us (1 Corinthians 2.7-12).

"Father, show me how to shine the glory-color that You have placed in me. I do not want to complain anymore about how You designed me and about the purpose You have for me. Help me not to compare myself with others. I want us each to shine Your glory in our own unique way. Thank You, God, for creating each of us so beautifully. For it is in Jesus' name I pray, Amen."

This post is dedicated to my twin. Thank you for always being so beautifully different.