Who are you? You are a child of the one true King

Welcome back to "Stress less," child of the one true King!

What? You didn't know you were royalty? Well, sit back and let me tell you a tale, a tale of - wait a minute, I think that's from a t.v. show. Pull up a chair anyway because the story is just getting good. Let's pray:

Father, we are going to share some family history today. We want You to show us just what we need to know about who we are. Help us to be receptive to Your truth, today especially. This is going to be such a revelation for someone today! Someone who didn't know how important they are is going to find out right now. You know who they are, Lord. I pray today is the day we start to live in the excitement and joy of our true heritage! In the name of Jesus, amen.

Have you been playing the "To Tell the Truth" game with everyone you know? It's a good one. Try it on your kids and they'll think not only do you have eyes in the back of your head, but you can read their minds, too!

Are you starting to get enthusiastic about who you are, yet? What gifts and talents have you been putting on the back burner, that now are pounding to get out? I can't wait to hear what new ideas you have, what you are going to try, or how you are going to touch someone's life in a way only you can!

You know, the word enthusiasm comes from the Greek words en theos which means God Within! To be enthusiastic is to show God is within you. That doesn't mean you are a god, it means the evidence of God's majesty is in your very DNA.

Do you remember the movie, The Lion King? At one point, Simba (the King's son) is accused of his father's murder, and he runs away in shame and fear. After quite some time he has managed to create a new life, with new friends who know nothing of Simba's past, and he is just coasting along in life without any direction or challenges.

Suddenly, the clouds form the image of his father, the King (played by James Earl Jones, so imagine that voice coming from the clouds.)

Simba is awe-struck as he sees this image, and hears his father call his name, "Siimmmmbbbaaaaaa. You have forgotten meeeeee."

Simba is confused and asks, "Father, how could I forget you?"  His father stares deeply into Simba's eyes and says," You have forgotten who you are, and therefore you have forgotten me."

The great lion continues," You are my child. The child of the King."

Simba begins to weep as he realizes he has been wrong. He ran away from his destiny as the son of the King. He was being less than he was meant to be, created to be, destined to be, because he let a jealous, vengeful lion tell him he wasn't good enough, and that everyone would hate him for who he was.

Now, I am telling you: You have forgotten who you are. You are the child of the King!

You are the child of the King!

How much time have you lost letting people tell you lies about who you are? How much have you lost pretending to be less in the hopes that others will love you more?

In the movie Walk the Line, Johnny Cash and his little band are auditioning for a record producer and they are just tanking. They are singing an old gospel song and it's not bad, but it's not great either. So, the producer stops them and asks, "If you were laying dying in the street, and you had time to sing one last song, are you telling me that's the song you would sing? That's the song that defines you, right there? "

So, Johnny sees this is a make it or break it moment. And he starts singing a song he wrote himself. It's a heartbreaking song about being so lonely he just wanted to die. His band mates pick it up and play along and as Johnny sings, you see him change from an insecure, so-so singer, to a powerful, intense, passionate man who draws in the producer and the audience with such a force, you can see that he is going to be a star. No, he is a star!

The difference was Johnny stopped singing in the way he thought the producer wanted him to sing, or expected him to sing, and instead began singing in his own voice, from his heart, from his truth!

So, what's your truth? What hill would you die on? What song would you sing?

Try this out: Write your own obituary. Write it once using adjectives that describe the sum of your life so far. Now, write it again explaining what you want people to know about you by the time you are dead (and if you know Christ, in heaven!)

Then, for heaven's sake, start living up to yourself!

Start living up to yourself!

At the end of the day, it all boils down to Dr. Seuss, right? Remember what he said?

"Go ahead and be yourself. Those who mind, don't matter. And those who matter, don't mind."

Tune in tomorrow as we finish up this 1st Key in Stressing Less! Now go out there and live like a child of the King!

Father, thank You for creating me in Your image. Thank You for making me Your own child. I am royalty. I am the child of the King. Help me to see myself in this new role, the role I was born to live. I will hold my head up higher, I will walk with my back a little straighter, I will be gracious to those under my influence, because, I am the child of the one, true King and I will never forget it again! In Jesus' name, amen.

Love, Karen



Photo by Graham Tomlin, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/