A call... (thoughts from September)

I have often struggled with 'me'. Often wishing, thinking that I should be different than I am, bemoaning my traits, belittling the 'me' that I am. Trying hard to force my shape into that of the cookie-cutter ideal I see. But I never stay in that shape, and I'm not happy in that shape.
Yet, there is a balance -- as Jesus tells me to deny myself, so I cannot just assume that as I am is as He wants me to be...

I read a poem this morning by Mary Oliver titled "The Other Kingdoms":

"Consider the other kingdoms... the creatures, with...their infallible sense of what their lives are meant to be. Thus the world grows rich, grows wild, and you too, grow rich, grow sweetly wild, as you too were born to be." 

Her words reminded me of Jesus' words to His disciples, His words to me: "Consider the lilies of the field... consider the birds of the air.."
As I follow His lead, I learn - but it is in the following.