August 9th, 2013
Dear Gavin –
Sixth grade. Whoa. Big time.
You know, I remember when I was in the sixth grade… I felt
so grown-up. I thought I was ready to do lots of grown-up things. I made a lot
of mistakes that year.
The funny thing is, when you make mistakes, you learn from
them. At least, that’s what grown-ups do. And then, I had to fix them. The
fixing them was hard – making new friends, changing my behaviors and realizing I
could be better.
I never felt that to be perfectly awesome, was to just be
me. I thought I needed to be someone else. I didn’t believe that “ME” was
already perfectly awesome because I was exactly who God created me to be. I
didn’t believe that “ME” had something to offer this world that was different
and unique from everyone else.
No. I believed (and I believed this for a very long time) –
that in order to be perfectly awesome – everyone needed to be the same and to
have the same gifts and strengths as everyone else. To be weak in ANY way or to
show weakness would ruin my perfect awesomeness.
I know, now, that’s not true. I know that I am exactly who
God created me to be and that I have amazing talents and gifts to offer this
world. I am perfectly awesome just the way I am.
Here is the coolest thing I’ve learned though… I’m not the
only perfectly awesome creation out here… So are YOU! And Aj and Syd and Daddy
and everyone else we know and love. And
I get to LEARN from all of you! And I get to be part of the sharing and
learning and the growing and the changing! And it is so, So, SO perfectly awesome.
And here is the even cooler thing –there are people I DON’T
know yet that I will get to meet and they will be perfectly awesome, too! And they
will teach ME and I can learn from them! And they will be one more piece to
complete this puzzle of life.
The most important thing you can ever do with your life is
offer your perfectly awesome self to the world. The next most important thing
you can ever do is learn from everyone else’s perfectly awesome selves. You
need to see them and their unique gifts and talents as beautiful parts of your
life that you will be incomplete without… because you can learn SO much from
everyone you meet. Those people will teach you and guide you and will be good
at things you can’t even begin to understand. And even if you can’t see it at
first, I guarantee that everyone you meet is perfectly awesome in some way.
This is what God intended. I don’t think he wanted us to be
the same or to appear like we do not have weaknesses. I think he wants us to
know that we are one giant puzzle and that we don’t work without each other. He
wants us to feel, in our hearts, that we belong here… to our families, to our
friends, to our neighbors… to each OTHER.
As you go into sixth grade, I know you will go through a lot
of changes. These changes are necessary, important, exciting and maybe a little
hard. Sometimes you might feel like you don’t fit and like you aren’t perfectly
awesome. You might feel, like I did, that you are so different from everyone
else that you need to change. You might feel, like what you have to offer this
world is just not awesome ENOUGH.
I want to tell you that you always fit here. What you have
to offer, in your curiosity, your laugh, your passion for life, your sense of
adventure, your joy in discovery and your self-motivation to be the best at
anything you accomplish is perfectly awesome. YOU are enough. And the world just
isn’t complete without your perfectly awesome self within the puzzle.
Learn from others. Be humble about your gifts. Use them to
help others and let others help and teach you. Know you are worth it and that
you fit here – with me, with our family, with your friends but most importantly
– you fit in this world just as you are. Be kind to everyone and make an effort
to find what is awesome about everyone and realize that they fit here, too. And
understand that everyone feels like they may just not be enough and so they
might be trying to be something they aren’t. It’s scary to feel like that. It’s
overwhelming to try to hide your weaknesses from everyone else because you are
scared that you will not be good enough.
You are enough. Even in your weaknesses. Even in your
strengths. In your gifts and talents and struggles and imperfections, you are
what God intended you to be.
You are perfectly awesome.
I love you –
Mom
<3
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