Getting into My Groove

I just started a new Bible study last night, The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg.  I have to admit that at first I was completely put off by the title.  It sounded so new-agey, so self-focused, so all-about-me.  I'm trying to be about others and looking up, not at me.  Soooo boring and self-absorbed to be all about me, me, me.  But as I delved into the study I realized that there is merit to looking at, and becoming, the me that God intended me to be when He created me.  Not like a work plan where I do works for His kingdom, but flourishing in myself so that I am fulfilled and fulfill my distinct role in His kingdom plans.  Sounds like a fine distinction, but there is.

What Ortberg addressed head on, first session, was our being anyone but who we are designed to really be.  You know, the "me"

• I pretend to be or
• I think I should be or
• other people want me to be or
• I'm afraid God wants me to be or
• that fails to be

I've blogged before about how we get sidetracked trying to be what the media tells us to be, or to change in ways that others want us to change.  It's tough really figuring out who we are and what our best life was designed to be.  Not our "perfect" life or our "no problems ever" life, but our life that flourishes from our own special gifts and talents.  Kind of like living in the groove that is uniquely ours.

I think ~ no, let me rephrase that ~ I know I'm going to like this study, even though I may not like the process I may have to go through to reach its intended outcome in me.  So get ready with the fertilizer, sunlight, water and weed hoe, 'cause this flower is ready to bloom!