The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be

My heart is heavy. Even with the glow of the January sun pouring through the window—because it’s the only friend we can welcome inside. Even with my little darling reading Joanna Gaines’s beautiful, new book The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be—because now she’ll be reading from home this week with her preschool out due to a Covid situation, and because let’s face it, it’s gruesome to explain to our children that there are still people in our world that refuse to respect and accept people’s differences and equality. My heart is heavy even with the Christmas twinkle still sparkling—because I haven’t wanted to take down the last memory we’ll make as a family for a while.

I hope that you know and love who you are
for all of the beautiful and unique and magical gifts you have to offer to the world.
May you always look at life with your eyes wide open. Be quick to learn from others and see and celebrate the differences in all of humanity. Be kind to others and to yourself.
And may you always believe that the world needs who you were made to be.
– Joanna Gaines, The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be

Life is so messy and hard and painful right now. I guess it always has been, but geesh, it’s amped up to mind-numbing proportions. I feel like I’m suspended in a state of surreal, and I don’t know how to pace myself. I imagine you may feel similarly. How do you pace yourself in the unknown? How do you rise and shine each new day and choose to move forward with love, acceptance, forgiveness, change, and hope? I hear it’s called “one day at a time.” And definitely in rainbow egg jammies.

I’m listening to: