Attention Campers!

So, I spent last week at a Youth Camp with a bunch of our High Schoolers. I was a little nervous about going because I hadn't been around most of these kids much and wasn't sure they would a) respect me and b) like me. It was such a strange feeling of intimidation going in and trying to figure the right approach to take to "be accepted". What an amazing experience for a person my age to be in a position to recall what I may have felt like walking into the halls of my high school for the first time. Funny thing was, it didn't take me long to remember the best approach to any social situation is just being myself.

I grew up in a private school and had the same people in my classes year after year. I knew everybody and their mamas. When 8th grade came around and I had to attend public school for the first time in my life, I was terrified. I had never had to make friends really and wasn't very good at it. I felt so intimidated by everyone. I had never been a quiet or introverted person but that whole year I hid myself away trying to protect myself from some unknown evil I believed was after me in that school. I was miserable. A product of my own fears and insecurities. The next year, as I walked through the doors of my new school, I realized everyone was on equal ground...a bunch of little fish in a really, really big pond. They didn't have any advantage over me now because they were all kinda new kids, just like me. Suddenly my confidence returned.

It hit me that there were so many different people there that I was bound to meet a few who would like me-just plain old me. I decided to just relax, be myself, and enjoy the ride! I remember after the first couple of weeks, a girl in one of my classes said, "Weren't you in my English class last year?" "Yes." "Weren't you shy?" I just laughed in response to her. It was so funny to hear someone refer to me as shy but I figured that was how I had come off to her. I felt so happy again to be able to be myself. Too bad I didn't figure all that out a year before.

I learned that when we spend our time trying to fit into other peoples "molds" we really do ourselves a disservice. You see, God created each of us to be individuals. He has given us all seperate gifts, ideas, talents, minds, and bodies. He has different plans for me then He has for you. In 1 Corinthians 12, He explains how we are made to be different in order to work together--filling each others gaps, bringing strength to each others weak spots. This was all part of His master plan! He doesn't want me to be you or you to be me. He wants us to be ourselves, fully. I learned to appreciate who he designed me to be, flaws and all and to celebrate the beauty of what that looks like.

It doesn't matter if everybody likes me (let's face it, everybody doesn't like everybody!). What matters is that I am being true to myself and come to find out, most people are drawn to you when they feel that realness. Our society wants us to all be clones of some image that Hollywood portrays. They want us to fit into their boring little molds. I say step outside that box and be you! I say celebrate your individuality.

So, you are asking yourself how my week went being the newbie?? It went great! I had a wonderful time, felt super loved and accepted and made some special new friends. They loved me just the way I am, and I felt the same way about them. Be the you God created you to be!