{"id":6340,"date":"2023-09-10T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6340"},"modified":"2023-06-25T16:09:51","modified_gmt":"2023-06-25T21:09:51","slug":"be-the-best-you-can-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6340","title":{"rendered":"Be the Best You Can Be"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Abundant Life: Riches money can\u2019t buy\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Those living abundant life don\u2019t waste time wishing they were someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar Wilde once said, \u201cBe yourself! Everyone else is taken.\u201d All in all, that\u2019s pretty good advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are totally honest, most of us would probably prefer to be someone else or at least like someone else. We want to be taller, shorter, thinner, quieter, more outgoing, younger, older, wittier, smarter, more organized, athletic, and so on. However, God created us all to be ourselves! There are over seven billion people in the world and no two have the same finger print, voice vibration, or DNA. It\u2019s really quite phenomenal when you think about it. So we are all different whether we want to be or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will always be someone better looking, more popular, and thinner than us. Guess what? That\u2019s okay. From a spiritual perspective there will always be someone who appears to be praying, studying, and serving more. That\u2019s okay, too. Appearances don\u2019t tell the whole story. The Pharisees outwardly looked righteous but their hearts were far from God. God knows the intent of our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why the Bible continually tells us not to compare ourselves with others. (Galatians 6:4) Each of us has a unique personality. Each of us has different talents or abilities to be used for God\u2019s glory and purpose. (1 Corinthians 12:4) Maybe we need to stop wishing to be someone else and want to be who God created us to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People wanting to make changes should do it for the right reason\u2014to be a better person. Focusing on our assets and embracing certain limitations can be helpful. We are not all meant to do or accomplish the same things. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. (1 Corinthians 12:5-31) If we could all do the same things we would not need to work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many think they have nothing to offer others. Most of us think if we aren\u2019t pretending to be something we\u2019re not then no one will like us. Well God likes us. God even loves us. When Jesus told His followers they were the salt of the earth and a light of the world He was talking to everyday people\u2014mostly the poor, uneducated, lower echelon of society at that time. These were not the religious leaders. Yet Jesus was giving them a sense of self-worth and letting them know their lives mattered. They all had something to offer. (Matthew 5) And so do we, especially since we have Jesus Christ living in us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those living the abundant life don\u2019t waste time trying to be who they aren\u2019t. They choose to be the best version of themselves. After all, finger prints and DNA show us that everyone else is literally taken!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>\u2026I have come that they may have life and that they<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

may have it more abundantly.\u201d ~John 10:10 (KJV)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Abundant Life: Riches money can\u2019t buy\u2026 Those living abundant life don\u2019t waste time wishing they were someone else. Oscar Wilde once said, \u201cBe yourself! Everyone else is taken.\u201d All in all, that\u2019s pretty good advice. If we are totally … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6342,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6340\/revisions\/6342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}