because we need to take this personally
"Don't take it personally."
A phrase often uttered with heavy sighs and eye rolls by the person who just told you something about yourself that you most likely did not want to hear."
Don't take it personally."
A phrase also whispered with compassion by a person who knows you just heard something about yourself that you most likely did not want to hear."
Don't take it personally."
Yep, it's true, many times we hear comments and see actions that if taken personally have the potential to either wreck our day, or just wreck us emotionally. Because when someone says don't take it personally, what they are saying is that we shouldn't let it-whatever IT is-upset us, change our mood, change our feelings about ourselves, our person. Because when someone says don't take it personally, it's usually because they desire to say something that will do just that but need to cover themselves with that four letter phrase before the rest of their words sputter out.
So, why, even with the preemptive warning, do we usually take personally what we were commanded by said speaker of comment to not take personally? Because, we want to take things personally. We were created for personal. We were created as individuals and that is how we long to be seen.
We want to take things personally because we want to feel special, we want to be thought of, we want to see our uniqueness and how it is important to the world. This thought was ingrained in us from the very beginning because from the very beginning we were meant for unique.
"For you formed my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and I know this very well." Psalm 139:13-14
In case you haven't been told today, you are a marvelous work. You, personally.
So, yes, our desire to take things personally is built within us, we just must be careful to only let it the voice that gave us our personality.
The big picture we are all a part of is a divine creation, but the big picture doesn't always matter as much as you think, what you need to remember is within that divine plan is a beautiful piece necessary to complete it.
This is a simple truth, a heard again and again reminder, but it is one I want you to stop and take it, stare at, head tilt, and ponder as you don't just hear it, but begin to always take it personally.
Jesus died for you. In 1 Peter 3:18 it says that Christ died in order to bring YOU to God. Yes, he died for us all, but this isn't a time to let yourself get lost in a crowd, this is a time for you to remember that in the midst of all of those he got up on the cross for, one of them specifically was you.
And not just did he die for you, but he Jesus understands you. Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us that Jesus empathizes with our weaknesses, each of our weaknesses. Last time I looked my plate was just as full as everyone else's, but it held very different things. My sufferings exist like everyone else's, but they are not all the same. My weaknesses are my weaknesses and Jesus understands them. He understands mine, he understands yours, he understands them each, personally.
So what prompted this new desire to fully understand on an old truth? In reading in a decades old devotional by Catherine Marshall, she was sharing about when her son came to faith in college and the desire it set in her "to take a fresh look at the qualities of the One who has such an attraction for young people..." I began thinking about how, while still "young" compared to many, I am not as young as I used to be and will only be getting less young as time goes on and yet still, Christ has an attraction for me. In fact as a child he had an attraction for me, just as he does now, and just as He will in the future. That attraction never waivers, even when the person I am does.
Similarly, I began to think about personalities and how my introverted self is just as understood and loved as the most extroverted of all. For those of you who have friends and family completely obsessed with the enneagram, no matter how you feel about your "number" you will not find one person on the scale no matter the number or wing attached to it who is not fully understood and fully covered by Jesus. You can put yourself on whatever spectrum you wish, you can take every personality test in the book, but the one thing that will always hold true is that Jesus died for YOU and Jesus understands YOU. He is able to empathize with us all and even while we were unrighteous He gave himself up for us. He gave himself up for you.
To you who light up when they enter a room full of people.
To you who needs a quiet moment in his room as soon as you get home.
To you who makes jokes about everything so no one notices how easily they then move into seriousness.
To you who will never shy away from the deepest of conversations.
To you who doubts their ability to carry on the simplest of conversations.
To you who stays quiet until they are around their "people."
To you who never stays quiet until they are fast asleep.
To you who loves fiercely and outwardly as possible.
To you who loves fiercely behind the scenes.
To you all together, and each individually.
I pray this old truth, in this moment, brings on a new meaning. I pray you understand how personal your life is and how you can take each and every promise God gave and each gift Christ gave and each prick of the heart the Holy Spirit places. Take them personally because they are meant for you, they are meant for us all, but I want you to see how much He is for you, personally. Pray for me.