I am an Epic Gift! Not kidding, I am 100% amazing! I am what I would call God’s gift to humanity! Absolutely and without a doubt, I am an Epic Gift. That is a fact and its time to unwrap me!
Did that statement offend your sensitivities? Do you think I am “full of myself” and am completely and overwhelmingly egotistical? Before you get your undies too bunchy let me tell you that YOU are an epic gift too. How does that sit in your belly?
Please allow me to expound on this thought. I am (we are) created in God’s image and He is pretty fabulous (biggest understatement of ALL time!). So, if I am created in His image, that makes me pretty fabulous too, right?
Does it make me a person that knows everything and has every answer? Nope. Does it make me the most unoffensive person you will ever meet? Not in the least! Does it make me someone everyone loves and just can’t wait to be around? Nope, strike three, that is not the case. Regardless, I am ME and that is EPIC!
I am fearfully and wonderfully made! Psalm 139:14
Let’s define Epic because the definition sheds light on my point. According to the definition that pulls up on great googly-moogly, epic can be used as a formal adjective (a descriptive word), meaning heroic, grand in scale or character or it can be used as an informal adjective to mean particularly impressive or remarkable.
Hmm, both those things are true of God…are they true about me? Yep – 100% true! I am heroic because I live to love every day in a world too often focused on hate. I am particularly impressive because I show love to everyone I meet with a smile. I am particularly remarkable because I offer radical love in a world so self-focused that people don’t look up from their devices long enough to enjoy the world around them. Sounds like super-human behavior doesn’t it? That is because it IS super-human. In fact, it is supernatural and without God’s help I couldn’t smile at an ant, let alone at every person who crosses my path, including the ones who cut me off in traffic!
It is God living IN and THROUGH me that makes me EPIC. His love fills me to overflowing so it is out of that overflow that I can love others. If you don’t know love, my friend, you don’t know God. If you don’t, I encourage you to take a dip in the grace filled ocean of love He freely offers to you and drink it in deep. It will change your heart. Willingly swap out your old self for His perfect self and His love will ooze out your pores…to an epic amount!
Upon closer inspection of the definition of epic we find even deeper meaning. We see that epic is also a noun (a person, place or thing). Well, that works as well because I am a person, cool! Epic in this form means a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation. OK, double cool!
What does that mean? It means that my life is a story, a poem, if you will, and every day is building on the one before with a new adventure. Each moment I am writing more of my poem. The key to remember is I am actually a poem God is writing to tell the story of His Kingdom. He chose to make me, exactly as I am, with all my quirks, ticks and goofiness. He chose to have me living at this point in time and to be a part of the spheres of influence in which He has placed me.
When I am walking with God I am the best poetry writer on the planet – in the cosmos, in fact – because I am being who I am designed to be. I am not striving to be something I am not, I am not doing to make sure I am good enough for God, I am merely breathing each gifted breath and reveling in the love of my Heavenly Father. It is when I am simply being me that I truly am a shining reflection of God to everyone I meet.
For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives.
Ephesians 2:10a (Voice translation)
Again, it doesn’t mean I am perfect, in fact, I have bad days too <<insert shocked GASP here>>. What it does mean, is that I know who I am and whose I am and that no matter what happens in this world, nothing, absolutely zero has the power to change those facts. That, my friends is the Fullness of Grace and that is why God shed His blood to reunite us to Himself. Though you may have been running from Him, He hasn’t ever been running from you. Rather He has been running towards you, your whole life, because He wants to enjoy the epic gift that He made. He delights in His Creation and when we delight in Him we can fully enjoy the blessed, mysterious union we have with God.
Last thought…maybe…
We have established the fact that you and I are gifts from God to this world. So, let me ask you this: Have you ever had a gift for someone sit wrapped in your house for an extended amount of time? Doesn’t it just bug ya every time you walk by that wrapped gift? Doesn’t it seem sad just sitting there waiting to be unwrapped and enjoyed? What good is that gift, kept under wrap, collecting dust? Ummm…I’d say its technically nothing more than a paperweight.
So, don’t be a paperweight, instead unwrap yourself and give the world the gift of YOU. Be seen and known for who you are created to be, share your talents and show what you have to offer this world. Don’t hide in the shadows because you think you are not as gifted as someone else. I guarantee they are likewise not gifted in a different area that you are gifted in, that is what makes each of us unique. On that same train of thought, don’t find your worth in your “gifted-ness” or judge others for their apparent “lack of gifting”. Find your worth in God and just be you – the real you – the you that you were designed to be then enjoy the adventure.
If you can’t breathe at the thought of unwrapping yourself for the world to see, check out the post Are you living or just breathing to death? for some helpful resources on how to start living to your fullest. 🙂
Knowing that you are loved beyond measure goes a long way towards that step of unwrapping. But knowing and believing are two different things. No time like the present to start Believing You ARE loved and you ARE an Epic Gift, then rip off the wrapping and let this world experience YOU!
I declare 2020 to be a year of unwrapping and I, personally, can’t wait to see all of God’s gifts unleashed on this world.
SO LET’S UNWRAP!
With Love, laughter and blessings,
Pamela
PamelaInTraining 