Just be yourself

Mark Swinney

For two weeks one summer, Josh went to Boy Scout Camp. All the Scouts lived in two-person pup tents. Josh didn't know Mike, the boy in his tent, very well. Even though they went to the same school, Mike was a couple of years older than Josh. It didn't matter, though, because they became friends and had a great time doing just about everything together for the whole two weeks. They fished for catfish. They identified different kinds of plants. And they learned how to paddle a canoe.

After they left camp that summer, Josh and Mike didn't see much of each other. They had some of the same classes at school, and whenever they were together, they always laughed a lot because Mike was so funny. But mostly, they each did their own thing with different groups of friends.

One day, toward the end of the next year's summer vacation, Josh was out fishing in a big lagoon near his house. Usually he would have been at the diamond playing baseball, but that particular morning, Josh had decided to head down to the water with his fishing pole. He hadn't been there long when Mike came walking by with some of his friends. Josh was glad to see Mike, but Mike didn't seem very glad to see Josh. Without any explanation, Mike started to mess with the fish Josh had caught. When Josh told him to stop, Mike began punching him.

Josh was shocked. He knew that Mike was doing this because his friends were watching. But Josh didn't want to fight. Behind those fists he could still see his friend. Also, Josh could tell that Mike was scared. He was scared that the other guys wouldn't like him if he was friends with Josh. "He's hurting me because he wants to look good in front of his friends," Josh thought.

After Josh got home that night, he felt so bad that he decided he needed to pray and ask God what to do. When he quietly listened to God, the thought came that both he and Mike showed that God existed. It was natural for them to be loving and considerate because that's how God had made them. And anyway, hadn't Josh already seen what Mike was really like when they'd been at camp together? He knew that Mike was a thoughtful and kind person.

Josh started to look for more evidence of God. He thought about all Mike's good qualities and how Mike was expressing God with them. It wasn't long before Josh was able to forgive Mike and put the whole mess behind.

A few days later, Josh saw Mike at school. Twice Mike told him that he was sorry. Mike said he just hadn't been himself. And Josh was pretty sure Mike could see that he already knew that.

This stuck with Josh for a long time. In fact, a while later he started thinking about it again. It was then that Josh realize he had learned two important things from his experience with Mike. The first was that you can love people for who they really are—God's children—even if they don't always act that way. The second was that you can't be hurt by people who treat you like you aren't good enough for them or their group.

Just because people don't see your worth, Josh found, doesn't mean you don't have worth. You're worthy no matter what, because God is Love. And Love is more powerful than any person who tries to make you feel inferior. Everyone is God's own worthy child—absolutely essential and totally unique.

Sometimes you hear people say, "Just be yourself." To Josh that meant be the self that God has made you to be. That's what Jesus was talking about when he said, "You are like a light for the whole world." Josh liked letting his light shine as brightly as ever.

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