“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have come across several of Emerson’s quotes now, this one stuck with me!

I asked Grandfather Crow why were the people like that and he said, “they are not living as themselves”.

“What ever do you mean by that, Grandfather?”, I asked.

So many of them live through the eyes of others instead of living through their own eyes. They are not being who they were born to be.

Look at our other feathered cousins for a moment. The owl does not living all day thinking I wish I were a crane and the bluebird does not live all day thinking about how to turn his blue feathers to red.

The owl was born to be an owl and so lives as an owl. The Bluebird was born a bluebird and lives as a bluebird.

The owl is not wishing for longer legs and the bluebird is not wishing for feathers of any other color than his own.

One owl does not tell another owl how to fly, hunt or hoot and the bluebird does not compare his life to that of the redbird. They are who they were born to be.

It does not even enter their minds that they should be or want to be any different than who they are. They are happy being themselves.

The wren sings as loud as the wren can sing because it was born to do so and does not wish for another voice or even try to change it’s voice… it is perfectly happy with the voice it was given and uses it to the best of its ability.

Most people don’t live this way, Little Crow.. instead they allow outsiders to tell them how they should be, who they should be and how to act and live… they have forgotten who they were born to be. This makes them seem sad. If they can find themselves again you will see the changes in their whole being. The spring will be back in their step, smiles upon their faces and hope and love will fill their hearts. Until then, Little Crow.. I am afraid that people will continue as you saw them today.

Yours truly, 
Little Crow

e.e. cummings, ee cummings, to be yourself, true to yourself, perseverance, fight, identity, ego, self

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”

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Sa fii tu insuti

Martin Luther King Jr.

“Chiar dacă aş ştii că mâine lumea s-ar dezmembra, tot aş planta mărul.”

Thoughts from a talk on leadership:

• Fear is a backwards motivator
• Pure obedience comes from a love for Jesus
• What are you trying to hide?
• Keep your heart yielded and keep following Him.
• When you understand the way of a leader as being a shepherd then you will be a dynamic leader.
• A shepherd feeds his sheep everyday and only shears once a year.

Andy Stanley Series: That Hideous Thing (jealousy)

• You think God ripped you off.  God could have given you this, God could have done that.
• 1 Cor. 13 You can’t love until you get rid of envy
• 1. Acknowledge this truth and take it to God. I think God owes me. 2. Confess your jealousy to the person if you need to. 3. Celebrate the people you envy and celebrate them out loud.”

Captivating: Healing the Wound

• Now, Jesus said, don’t you think God cares just a little bit more for you than for the birds of the air? “Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matt. 6:26).  Indeed, you are.  You, dear heart, are the crown of creation, his glorious image bearer.  And he will do everything it takes to rescue you and set your heart free.
• He came to restore the glorious creation that you are.  And then set you free….to be yourself
• Our journey toward healing begins when we repent of those ways, lay them down, let them go. 
• Healing never comes against our will
• We all still need to know and find the answers in God: Do you see me? Am I captivating? Do I have a beauty all my own? Will you heal me? Can you really heal me? Am I really worth it?