ME

In this new year of 2021, with all of the White Privilege, White Supremacy, Trumpism and Nasty Politics it is more imperative than ever that you take time to discover “ME”. Do you know how smart ME is? Do you know how powerful ME is? Do you know about the Gift that ME possesses? There is surely a “me” you long to be. So ME should be the number one priority on your list of New Year’s resolutions this year.

Life is not about any particular achievement or experience. The most important task of your life is not what you do, but who you become. In the words of Carter G. Woodson, “If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.” In other words, if you don’t take the time to figure ME out for yourself, then the world is going to figure it out for you. And the way things have been going all around us lately, that’s just not a safe bet at all.

If you ever are going to become the ME that you want to be, then you will have to start by being honest about the ME you currently are. Each one of us has a ME that we think we should be, which is at odds with the ME that God made us to be. Sometimes letting go of that self may be a relief, or sometimes it will feel like death. But LET that ME GO!

Let me bless you really quick… On the other side of death is freedom, and no one is freer than a dead man. Jesus had much to say about death to self, and on the journey to the ME you want to be, you will have some dying to do. But that kind of death is always death to a lesser self, a false self, so that a better and nobler self can come to life.

In my opinion, God’s plan is not for you to obey her just because you should even though you don’t want to. God’s desire is for you to want her plan for you. God created you to flourish, to receive life from outside yourself, to create vitality within yourself, and to produce blessing beyond yourself. Flourishing is God’s gift and plan. Flourishing is not measured by outward signs such as income, possession, or attractiveness. It means becoming the person he had in mind in creating you. Flourishing means moving toward God’s best version of you. When you flourish, you are in harmony with God, creation, other people, and yourself.

ONE FINAL NOTE: Comparison kills spiritual growth, so stop competing with other people. Remember that everyone has a spirit of their own, and everyone’s inner life is being formed, for better or worse. We flourish when our spirits are rooted in and shaped by the Spirit of God, and God wants to do that in a way that uniquely fits ME.

Now go find “ME” and remember, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree and they will flourish in the courts of our Gods,” (Psalm 92:12-13).

Dr. Davin D. Clemons, DMin.