Cherishing Life Starts With Me

One of my favorite lyrics is “Make peace with God, make peace with yourself, ‘cuz in the end there’s nobody else.”

Truly, those are the only two relationships that I have full control over. When it’s my time to die, my decisions related to my relationship with God and the choices I made personally are all that will matter. Other people and things all fit into those frameworks.

Forgive me if it sounds selfish–I hope I can convince you otherwise—but I believe true nurture and cherishing must start with the person for which I am most responsible: me. Remember that whole oxygen mask thing? Well, as cliche as it sounds, it is true.

I was given an assignment while participating in a group earlier this year. It seemed simple, but it was much more challenging than I first thought. The assignment was:

Describe yourself in 25 words or less without using any physical descriptors or naming any of your roles.

Think about it. Isn’t it difficult to do that?

I’m at a social gathering, meeting someone new. How do I introduce myself?

“Hi, my name is Jennifer. I am….

a homeschooling mom, a piano teacher, Jeff’s wife, their daughter, a freelance writer, etc.”

If I’m supposed to describe myself to someone online who hasn’t seen me?

“Hi, my name is Jennifer. I am….

short, overweight, average…..

I have…..

long, brown hair; big feet; green eyes.”

It was a good exercise for me. It showed me that the real me is more than what I do or what I look like or even my relationship to other people. Want to try it?

As for the other relationship, I’ve written at length about what I believe about God and my relationship with Him. You can read my testimony here. For now, I’ll just say that to truly cherish life and relationships, it is essential to have a clear relationship with God. After you’re finished trying to write a description according to the assignment above, maybe you could write a description of your relationship with Him. It may show you a few things you haven’t seen before.