I have heard it countless times since being in the Adventures community:
Don’t put me in a box.
So many people respond this way when in conversation about personality tests, strength tests, or something of the like. They don’t want people to assign a list of traits to them because they tested that way. I completely agree. However, they neglect to see the true benefit and power of what all these tools we use around here are for.
I will not be talking about any of the many personality tests that are out there, but if you would like to know more about how to learn more about how you were made and how you function, please contact me.
Let me tell you a quick story that brought this blog on.
Last week, I was given an assignment to go outside and find a spot to be still and rest in the presence of the Lord. I thought I would sit there and think about everything that has been going on and spend all my time on that. Thinking about CGA ending, what regrets I have, or things I still want to do. This is always the pattern when I try to silence myself. Daddy had other plans for me.
I began my time, as usual, with prayer. I walked to the field under the new ropes course being constructed, praying for a time of rest and reflection on Him. I stopped at what looked like a good spot and sat down.
I immediately started acting like I did as a child. I ran my hands along the grass, grabbed a fistful and threw it into the wind. Next was something I had not done in a long time. When I was younger my dad taught me how to whistle with grass. You put a blade of grass between your thumbs and blow through the space. It created a buzzing whistle that carried all over the property. I chuckled to myself. I made other animal noises as another apprentice chimed in from across the field.
Then I began to pick at the different variety of plant life in the grass around me. Dandelions, spring onions, clover, and other weeds I cannot remember or do not know the name of. I then laid back, closed my eyes and began to listen to the wind blow through the trees. I heard all different sorts of bugs buzz by. I then began to think on the different types of life around me and what each one is designed for.
The analogies came like a floodgate. Each plant, animal, and living thing around had a purpose and design. We are designed to thrive in certain areas and maybe work harder in others.
A tree is designed to grow deep roots and stretch high and provide shade and strength to relieve others’ from the heat and to anchor to them for support. Trees take a long time to develop and have a great deal of patience. Grass on the other hand was designed to grow rapidly across a vast area and is good at making a large field go from dead and boring looking to green, lush, and beautiful. Providing a soft place to lay and a beautiful landscape to look at. Each has a different way of growing, spreading, and thriving.
Everything from the birds I saw flying high overhead to the bugs buzzing by have a design and certain ways of thriving. So do we as creatures created by the same God.
We each have strengths, weaknesses, and aspects of God’s character that we bring into everyday life.
So are we trying to put you in a box? No, the purpose is to construct a box that has labels on it for others to know how to interact with you in a healthy and loving way. Not a box to stuff you inside of, but a box that you can step into and work out of when you want to be the best you you can be.
Can you leave the box? Yes! By all means. If you are an introvert, like I am, there are times that you will push yourself outside the box to have fun and interaction with others. If you don’t usually do well with scheduling and calendars, there will be times you need to step out of the box you function best in and learn how to use use the calendar on your phone to plan things.
So, yes I am saying you might be labeled as a tree, but I am not telling you what kind of tree to be. There are trees with big leaves, small leaves, pine needles, or no leaves at all. There are trees that blossom and some that don’t. Trees that grow huge and some that stay in pots.
There is always freedom to be what you want to be. Sometimes we just give you a glimpse at how God created you to be and that you should embrace it and learn how to be the best you that you can.
