Lessons from a 1 year old.

A couple weeks ago I got to spend a few days with my nephew in Seattle. He's the best. I hate living so far away from him and not being able to see him grow every day, but I cherish the time I do get with him. He's so fun and it is fun to see the world through his eyes and all of the ways he continues to grow. I was there the week or so after he really started walking, so that was a fun time too to see him learn this new skill and take the world by storm in a new way. Today is his first birthday (!!) so I figured it was appropriate to dedicate this post to him and what he has taught me. When I was spending time with him, I realized there's a lot we can learn from a 1 year old. Since I love to make lists, I decided to make a list of life lessons from a 1 year old.

1. Sometimes we just need to fall and trying to help can hurt more. Since he was just learning to walk, he fell...a lot. As someone who loves him and never wants to see him hurt, of course my reaction was to reach out and catch him or try to soften his fall, but I realized after awhile that, often times, that made him fall harder. (Sorry Jake and Em). Usually when he lost his balance and caught himself he was fine...he popped right up, ready to keep on walking like it was no big thing. I realized how often we can try to help someone or try to break their fall or fix it when they really don't need our help. Sometimes helping can hurt and sometimes people need to fall on their own.
2. Joy can be found in the simple things. My nephew and sis-in-law were in Michigan recently at her grandparent's house and he loved this spoon he found so he got to take it back to Seattle with him. He loves a spoon...he also spent a lot of time entertained by my little shampoo bottle. These are not big, flashy, or expensive things, but simple, every day items. I think too often we get sidetracked by thinking that life is meant to be big and flashy, when joy and beauty is often found in the simple and every day.
3. When in doubt...turn to wonder. Babies have so much to learn. Have you ever thought about all the things that we learn throughout life? That at one point you had to learn how to walk, learn to talk, to eat by yourself and learn how the things around you work. Sometimes I would see him look at something or hear something that he wasn't sure about and then he would toddle over to check it out. Babies don't have all the answers because they don't know much yet, so they're constantly turning to wonder and to curiosity. At some point in life, we lose this, we think we have all the answers or shouldn't have any doubts, but that's not reality...what would it look like if we turned to wonder more often? If we let ourselves do the work to figure things out and if we can't figure them out, just turn to wonder and rest in the fact that we don't have to know it all.
4. Sometimes all the people in your life want is for you to show them love. He is a very active 1 year old...he isn't about the cuddling life. Em would sit him on the edge of the couch every morning to wake me up and I just wanted to cuddle him, but he pushed away and wanted to be off exploring. I mean...I get it, there's a lot to see out there! He doesn't know any better, but it made me think about how much we want the people in our life to show us love, so are we returning the favor? Go hug someone. Go tell someone you love and appreciate them. It matters.
5. Trust in who you follow. My nephew adores his mom and dad. He doesn't hesitate to take their hand and walk around with them. When we put him down the slide, whoever was at the bottom would catch him and he hasn't learned yet that maybe that person down there won't catch me. He trusts in his parents and the people who dearly love him. I follow Jesus, but I don't think I always trust him...not like a child trusts his mom or his dad. It's a lesson I have to continually be reminded of.

So Happy Birthday buddy...you're only 1 and you're already teaching the world so much! I think we all need to strive to be more like little children and the world may become a more beautiful place.

A dirty mirror.

This mirror is one of my favorite things in my house. I found it one day in the barn at my parent's house and asked if I could have it. They said sure and that it had been in the barn since my grandpa built the house back in the 70's and came from their other home before that. It definitely wasn't the most loved item, with dirt engrained in the wood and smeared across the glass so you couldn't really see your reflection and paint chipped away. I was going to paint it a different color, but once I cleaned it up, I realized I liked how it looked...paint chips and all. It made a difference once you could see your clear reflection in it.

For some reason, I've always loved mirrors. It's a weird thing and I don't know why, but it's a thing for me. So a mirror that actually came from my family and means something and looks cute in my house...jackpot!

Anyway...for some reason this image of a dirty and smudged mirror has been in my head lately. So often we think of ourselves like we're looking at ourselves in a dirty mirror, we can't see ourselves clearly and we can't see a true reflection. We don't see ourselves the way God intended. I think truly knowing where our identity rests, loving and accepting ourselves, engaging in healthy relationships, becoming self-aware, and dealing with our issues helps that mirror become more and more clear, so we can truly see who God created us to be.

This is a lesson I've been learning a lot about the last couple years. One reason I love life is because it's a journey and I feel like there's always something more to learn about others, about the world and about yourself! We need to love ourselves so that we can love others well and we need to continue to uncover who God created us to be and live into that identity. I think at some point in life we start building up walls, we start hesitating here, or ignoring those feelings there because we're scared to be who we truly are. We get caught up in what people think of us, we get caught up in being perfect and we get caught up in being who we think the world wants us to be...at some point we look in a mirror and it's so smudged and dirty, we can't see ourselves and who we truly are.

For me, this journey of uncovering who God created me to be, of loving myself, of holding myself to a standard of grace and not perfection, and finding my identity in the fact that I am dearly loved has not been easy, but it's worth it. I've realized too that sometimes we need others to help us "clean off our mirror." A lot of the time we don't actually see ourselves the way others see us or believe in ourselves the way others believe in us so sometimes we have to borrow that belief and accept that help from others.

For a long time I stared into my mirror and it's like all I saw was dirt and imperfection and smudges, but then a friend would come along and remind me where my identity should come from...and she took a rag and wiped some dirt away. Then another person came along and encouraged me and affirmed who I am and that's who God created me to be and took a rag and wiped a few more smudges away. Then another person gave me an opportunity to show that I was capable, even if I didn't believe it myself, and they took a rag and wiped away some dust.

My people coming around me helped me see myself more clearly. They helped me pick up my own rag and wipe away all the dirt and smudges so I could see myself clearly, so I could truly see who God created me to be.

It may just be me, but this has been a process over and over again for me. Sometimes I forget and the mirror gets a little cloudy, but God seems to always send someone with that rag in hand to speak some truth until I remember it myself.

I hope we can all be mirror cleaners for others...may we only speak truth so that others see themselves clearly.

I want you to know that even if you don't see yourself clearly right now, you matter, you have value and you need to start seeing yourself with love and grace. Sometimes we can't do it by ourselves and we have to borrow that truth from others, so here I am, telling you this truth, you are dearly loved, you were created on purpose and you are meant to be who you truly are...let me get my rag so I can come clean your mirror.

The Discipline of Unlearning.

Recently I've been realizing how many things I'm "unlearning". We all have habits, we all have tendencies, we all have things that we just do...our natural reaction to things, the habits that are just ingrained in who we are, how we respond to stress or difficult situations. I'm realizing these habits, tendencies and natural things I just do aren't always healthy. They don't serve me well, but it's hard to change them. It's not easy to unlearn something. It's not easy to go against the grain of what have become your natural tendencies. I really think it's a discipline. The discipline of unlearning.

It's easier to just keep doing what you do. It's easier to just keep reverting back to how I handle stress and anxiety. It's easier to not have to put effort into something because it's how it's always been. It's easier to fix things than sit in the brokenness.

It's hard work to choose the healthier option. It's hard work to replace the lies you've always believed, with truth. It's hard to remember that the motivations of guilt and shame are not healthy. It's hard to take the risk when you just want to play it safe. It's hard to be truthful and honest in a conversation when you're used to just saying whatever will keep the peace.

This discipline of unlearning has been a process for me and every day I have to choose to not revert back to old habits. I have to make the choice to replace lies with truth. I have to choose to breathe in peace and not let anxiety rule my thoughts. I have to choose to sit amongst the brokenness and not try to fix it.

It's definitely a discipline to unlearn. Discipline is not something I've ever really been that good at, but apparently whether I wanted to or not, these days have been full of doing things I'm not good at.

It can all be pretty exhausting, but the nice thing with discipline is that when you keep practicing it, it starts to come more naturally. Although it takes hard work and it's not easy, the healthier tendencies are what start to become ingrained in you and it's worth it.

13 Signs You're A Classic INFJ

This is very much me and makes me feel a little less crazy and at least I have 3% of the population that feels similar to me!