Earlier this week, I posted on my Instagram stories that I had given up being a photographer for the day. Personally, I have never been a photographer nor is it an actual goal of mine, but now that I’m blogging a bit more and posting on Instagram a lot more – I thought why not. I feel like The Enthused Life is my baby and want to be hands on as much as possible. So, I gathered some inspiration on Pinterest and began to take photo after photo, angle after angle, and I just wasn’t happy with it. After putting on make up, doing my hair, styling my snacks, and prepping the shoot area it all felt like too much. I was spent … I gave up … and I ate my perfectly styled snacks. I racked my brain on what it is that I really want to give on social media and felt that I may have it all wrong. As I sat down, to decide what to write about this week, I felt a nudge to pick up a book that I’m reading “Don’t Settle for Safe” by Sarah Jakes Roberts. Hold on, I’m going somewhere I promise. I opened the first page as if I never read the book before and began to read.
“You’ve stopped trying to construct a life you hope for other people to accept, and instead you’ve decided to embrace the life God has in store for you” -Don’t Settle for Safe, Sarah Jakes Roberts.
Embrace. I read this quote and thought Yep, I had it all wrong. It spoke volumes to me because we all know that social media gives us the freedom to create a virtual “life” that is everything we need others to think our life actually is. But there is a shift that can only happen when we become confident in the life that God has for us. God has already given us a life and a plan of his own (See Jeremiah 1:5). One that is worth embracing and is more fulfilling than any attention or response on an Instagram feed. But instead of posting what is true to our journey we build an Instagram presence that puts us in the best light according to what will be most accepted by our followers, family, friends, and strangers. In turn, we neglect or become distracted from the light God wants us to live in.
Glory. Have you considered that your life is a form of God’s glory. I believe that when God created us, it was in his glory. It was unique, strategic, purposeful and in his own image. The more we make our lives look the next person’s we do that glory a disservice and the part of the world that need your authenticity suffers. Roman 8:19 says, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” Everyone looks the same, aspires for the same lifestyle, shares in the same tone of voice, and we all begin to blend. When God’s hand is upon something it doesn’t blend, it causes a revealing to happen. Take a step back and consider what God has revealed to you that you can reveal to others. What are the special things about you that draw people to you? What are the talents, gifts, and quirks that God is giving you that the world lacks. It’s all from His glory.
Cultivate. The world is in need of this glory that is unique to you. We have been called to bring forth this glory, but it starts with a decision to cultivate your actual life more than your insta life. Truth is, we are more than capable of living a life that is beautiful on and off Instagram if we actually focused on living it and living it with Christ. Shift your focus from searching for the Instagram aesthetics in your life and look for the Christ aesthetics. Cultivate the Christ aesthetics. Cultivate the fruit of the spirit yielding in your life. Cultivate that book you keep feeling a nudge to read. Cultivate that idea you keep daydreaming about. Cultivate a lifestyle that can actually align with the things you ask for in prayer. You will find it more fulfilling than looking at your IG profile over and over again wishing you posted one photo before the other. (I don’t judge you because I do it too 😉)
Display. When you live a life that you have truly cultivated with Christ, it is truly safe to display it as casual or aesthetically pleasing as you want. Why? Because its your life that you are proud of and not a copy of the next persons. Staying focused in a life lived for God is truly what brings you glory to God. It is not the way we display our lives but the way we actually steward it that will make our lives worth living and worth showing. The photos aren’t what made your favorite influencer’s life beautiful, it was their stewardship of all that God has graced them with. The same goes for you. We can live in a that truly puts Christ on display just by living in his light. We can show and tell the world what he has truly made beautiful in us. We can express His creativity by being our own person as he made us. We can spend less time scrolling our lives and other people lives and start stewarding our own lives. Becoming fully invested in making you life beautiful for God, and just maybe it will spill over onto the gram. That’s all for today beautiful people see you next week 😉
P.S. Will my feed be aesthetically pleasing? Absolutely! I love it! But I won’t live for it. I will live for God and be intentional about sharing what is true to me. In other words don’t come for me unless the Lord sent you. 😂😂😂
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