Excerpt from "Where Was God on the Worst Day of My Life"
It was refreshing to see as she grew older how little time she wasted managing her image or pretending to be something she wasn't. She was learning to be who she was.
This is not insignificant. Becoming one's self is a task made massive by self-imposed and predetermined obstacles. Consider only the latter. Our mother, our body, our birthplace, our personality, our DNA is so far out of our control it can be easily assumed life is either a great joke or great gift. If it is a joke then none of this matters. If it is a gift, then there must be a giver. If there is a giver, there is someone who intentionally made us as who we are. If someone made us who we are then who we are is who we should be. It is enough.
We are not conditioned to think this way. We are inclined to think we must become better, or purer, or different. Even religion (especially religion) can mislead us. My own particular tribe within Christianity, for instance, will routinely voice a prayer such as, "God help us to be like you." God doesn't need us to be like Him. It doesn't work anyhow. It doesn't matter how many times the prayer is repeated we will not be like him.
Unless... we recognize the immense irony: God's Son became like us.
If you want to be like God... be yourself.