Be the Best You

Oddly enough, this post was inspired from a conversation with some friends about finding that “one person” for you and whether there was even such a thing as “the one person”. I just sat there and thought as the conversation went on. Many people said they didn’t believe that there was such thing as “the one”, but I didn’t focus on that aspect of it. My thoughts eventually led me to a new way at looking at the question.

I thought about the wording of the phrase “finding the one for me”. It then hit me that the phrase itself sounded somewhat selfish. It was about finding that person for ME. Finding that person who “completes” ME. Finding that person who loves ME and makes ME happy and who is destined for ME. It was all about ME.

What if the words were switched around a bit? What if instead we said “I hope to find the one I am destined for”, or “I was made for someone” or “I hope to find that person I’m meant for.” Doesn’t that change the feel of it?

Some may argue that it still says the same thing, but to me, it sounds different. It’s not about how someone can love me or make me happy, but about how I can make someone else happy and love them. It’s not about me, but about someone else and enriching their life.

I left my friends for the night and went home and began talking with my roommate. She then said, “Well, you weren’t even just made for that one person, but for other people as well. Like Hannah, I was made for you. I was made for my parents. I was made for who ever else is out there that I meet. We were all made for each other.” And as my roommate spoke, I began to get this sense of wanting to be the best person I could be. I wanted to be the best Hannah I could be, and just be me. I wanted to go out and talk with people and offer them myself, the great grand gift that is me, with my quirks, faults and all. It made me glad to be unique and realize that there is only one me and I just need to be the best Hannah I can be. There’s no one else who can be me, and this is my special gift I can offer to people and I should offer it to them.

Here’s a story that my roommate also told me about 6 months ago. Since then, I’ve always remembered the story because I liked it so much. Here ya go:

“A story is told of a king who went to his garden one morning, only to find everything withered and dying. He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was. The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree. The pine was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grapevine. The grapevine was determined to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and produce fruit as large as peaches. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.

And so it went throughout the garden. Yet coming to a violet, the king found its face as bright and happy as ever and said, “Well, violet, I’m glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of this discouragement. You don’t seem to be the least disheartened.” The violet responded, ”No, I’m not. I know I’m small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I’m determined to be the best little violet I can be.

Others may do a greater work,

But you have your part to do,

And no one in all God’s family

Can do it as well as you.”

-Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

God wanted you on this planet. If He didn’t, He would have created someone else. So go be the best you that He made you to be. :)