Character

Okay, so my bad…I failed to do six days last week on this blog. It's called L-I-F-E and Fall Festival all combined into one. How lovely! Haha! If I would've thought, I would put a picture of moi here for you of my 'cougar' impersonation from last Friday nights fall festival but I forgot to take a picture. I'm starting to think that that was a good thing to forget to do after coming home and getting another look in the mirrior! Haha! But, if I don't hush about it, I'm sure Janice will find a picture of me somewhere and post it since she seems to be the 'picture' queen. Haha!

Okay, so I started thinking about the word character because our Fall Festival was just a few days ago and boy, did we have some characters there! Haha! If you really think about it, there are a lot of 'characters' out there disguising themselves as other people. Me included! Why do we find it so much fun to dress up as someone else? I love it! What I love even more is the reaction of people responding to how you look. But, when the night is over, it all comes off and the real you pops back into reality. This is the 'you' that you can't hide, the you that everyone see's….but let's go even deeper. What about the 'you' that you keep inside of you beyond what everyone else see's. The 'you' that you might be afraid to let come out or are afraid of what people might think or say about 'you'. This is the 'you' that God wants you to be - The real character, the real you.

I'll never forget this day as long as I live – but back about 10 years ago, okay, forgive me, I mean, back 20 years ago, okay! 21 years ago, I was heading home to my dorm…I was in 11^th grade and lived in Kandern, Germany (I actually lived in Marzell – a little town outside of Kandern). I went to Black Forest Academy my last 2 years of H.S. – it was a boarding school. And yes, I LOVED IT LIKE CRAZY!! I was heading up the driveway to my dorm when one of the 'cool' senior guys was heading down the driveway heading back to his dorm across the street. Well, if you know me at all, you'll see that I've never been afraid to be me in all my craziness, so this particular day I was extremely chipper and who knows what on earth I was doing, or acting like but for some reason this 'cool' senior felt compelled to say to me as he walked by me, these exact words, "Tracee! You're weird!" I looked at him with pure delight, accepting the compliment and said, "Thank you!", and walked away. It never bothered me for a split second. Even though I know he meant it negatively, I took it in positively because I like me! It's okay that he didn't like me. If I let that one sentence affect me, imagine what kind of power it would've had over the rest of my life over that one statement!! Enough power to stop me from being who God created me to be?Absolutely not! I love the 'character' I am – no, I don't like the muffin tops I have hanging over my jeans or the thighs that argue with each other on a daily basis saying, "You get out of the way, no you get out of the way!", but yet, I still love me – all of me, the way I am, look, inside and out. If God wanted me to be someone else I would be but I'm not – so remove the 'characters' you try to be everyday and put on the real you – from the inside out and fall in love with YOU!! That's the YOU God created you to be, YOU are the CHARACTER He created and you NEVER have to be ashamed of YOU!!

In Genesis Chapter 1:26-28 it says that God made us in HIS image. Accept who you are, embrace it, set yourself free to discover the beauty of who you are, who He created you to be and begin to fly! You are safe in His wings…..safe enough to be the character called: YOU!

Tracee, the weird one