Your You-ness

By Rick Odden

Did you know God created in you a “Youness?” Yes I know that is not a word, but it helps me to describe how each of us is created uniquely.  There is no one else like you. There never has been nor will there ever be. That is how I define Youness. 

Did you know that when you were born God gathered his angles around you and they were cheering for you? They went on and on about how cool you were and how they had never seen anyone like you before. They were excited, they were amazed, and they saw the Youness in you.

From birth, God created you with your own special, unique gifts; particular gifts that nobody else has. God breathed life in you, but there isn’t just the spiritual part of you that makes you, you. Your birthright is part of your Youness. God uses your upbringing, your cultural experiences and life encounters for good and for a specific purpose. Every part of you makes up who you are and the spiritual and physical you of God’s creation is the perfect you.

I used to play a mind game as a kid and think how small I was in comparison to the world. It is similar to the story Horton Hears a Who, where an entire civilization lives on a dandelion. I was like the “Who” and God was Horton the elephant.

I was this tiny thing on the planet and I would begin to imagine how big God was and that he could fit the entire earth on the tiniest part of the dandelion. If you’ve ever seen a dandelion after the yellow flowers dry out, that would not only make you feel small but practically invisible.

This puts God Almighty into perspective when it comes to us as his creation and him as Creator.  We are tiny, appear to be invisible beings, but not so small he can’t get a grip. He doesn’t just get a grip of our hand, he holds it tightly, securely, and without slipping and us wisping away like the fluff of a dandelion.

Galatians 6:4 states, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.”

Too often we want to compare our gifts to others and we find ourselves lacking and walking away feeling depressed. We may feel small and inconsequential to others, but we always have considerable worth and value to God. He is a friend whose love is far-reaching.

God wants you to know that your gifts are as good as the next person. They are unique to you and for specific purposes and he has they are for you to do for him and for his glory.

Be confident in your Youness and don’t copy others. Go the distance with God because he’s going the distance with you. God even tells you that in his word. He wants you to know that he made you special. “I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.” I Corinthians 7:7

He has given you this life to find out what those are and to fully realize and understand your Youness.  We live in an instant gratification age. We see something we want and find a way to obtain it. No waiting, no exploring, just immediate consumerism.

We are bombarded daily to think that in order to be happy we need to look, act, and have what everybody else has. It is all a ploy and it is unfulfilling. Why? Because Satan is a liar and if he can get you to focus on others, he knows that you will see how you don’t measure up to others, which ultimately, gets your focus off of God. You will be distracted from walking in your Youness. You’ll try to walk in the Youness of others.

The lies of the enemy do not bring joy into your heart and life, which is always his intent. Ephesians 5:17 tells us to not act thoughtlessly or foolishly, but to understand what the Lord’s will is for us.”

God wants you to go, explore, to discover who you are, not by things, but first in him. When we know who we are in him, what we experience in life, our interactions with others nurtures what God designed us to be and you begin to understand how to use the gifts that God blessed you with. The richness of your Youness is discovered when you can share it with others.

Through these shared experiences, your Youness will grow, it will bloom, and God will be fully seen in you. There is no greater joy than to truly understand and discover who you are in Christ Jesus. Discover what your Youness is by being be filled with God and use your God-given Youness for him today.

“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared

before I’d even lived one day.

17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!

God, I’ll never comprehend them!

I couldn’t even begin to count them—

any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!”

Psalm 139:13-18 MSG