Why Are You Here?

Here we are, gathered with open faces

looking like we care, speaking like we care

but look beyond the façade and we see the motives

Some with passionate commitment are there

because they care about the issue

Some because they want to progress personal agendas 

have come to pretend that they do

They come with their own invites

They come to meet him and her

because when they do, they look like they care

It is so easy to be deceived

Our society isn’t looking at the heart but the acts

so the fakes and phonies continue to play their part

A skill so polished, it’s hard to doubt them

Why are you here?

Are you here because you care

or are you here to act the part?

I Want Everybody to Like Me

“I have been trying to be accepted, but God wants me to be myself.” I spoke them aloud out of a deep reverie this morning. These words were the conclusion of my thoughts on the use of my skills and talents, and my community relationships. I’ve learnt the hard way that that being yourself is better than being who people want to be. Those that won’t like you for being yourself will never like you for being what they want you to be.

As I mulled over these words, a close confidant that heard me spoke up and these were his words. “If people don’t like God who created them, why do you expect to be liked by everyone? God did many great miracles in the Bible and He still does great ones today yet there are many who are anti-God and hate Him. He saved His people from their enemies, parted the sea to make a way for them and even sacrificed His only son to save everyone, yet not everyone likes Him. If all people don’t like God, despite His goodness and power, then don’t expect everyone to like you. He is a scientific God that operates on principles. You cannot say because you love Him you will climb to the top of the CN Tower and jump down. He will not stop your death. There are people who hate Him and even get paid to malign His person and reputation but He doesn’t go after them for it. He still loves them but they reject His love and show Him how much they hate Him as often as they find the opportunity. He is impartial and consistent without double standards and in spite of it, not everyone likes Him.”

If you’ve been trying to fit into a certain mold, either of your own making to please people or of people’s making and it goes against your grain, diminishes your confidence in yourself and abilities or makes you feel less than yourself, it is time for you to stop. Stop trying to fit into a mold that is not you. As long as you think right, speak right and do right, please be yourself. Live your life on your own terms not on people’s terms. Do your best with what you have. Reach within yourself and find that voice that is authentically yours and then, use it. Use it to regain yourself for yourself not for anyone else.

Everybody cannot like you but you must like…, no, you must love yourself!