In my life, especially being in college, I have loved sharing an invitation for friends and friends of friends to join me for Mass, social gatherings with people from the church, adoration, etc. There's no underlying scheme, only an opportunity to extend an invitation. A lot of those responses end up being, "Oh, I'm not a church person," "I'm not a Jesus freak," "No thanks, church is too boring" With all of these responses I just think what defines a "church person" or a "Jesus freak?" I think society has told us that in order to be a lover and follower of Jesus, we have to give up every ounce of our personality and become "boring."
Let me just say that couldn't be farther from the truth! God created each and every one of our personalities to be fully grown into in order to glorify His kingdom! Cecilia Pappas is a blogger who focuses on faith and fashion while demonstrating how we're called to love and serve others with our good friend, Jesus, by our side. She recently posted a photograph of herself, but the caption is what really stood out to me. If you ever thought you had to become boring to be a follower of Jesus, read this:
"You can still be friends with Jesus AND ...like to dress nice & consider shopping a hobby ...like to do your makeup and feel pretty ...like to go out and have a drink with friends ...like talking about boys ...like to dance around like a psycho ...have non-believer friends ...not have it all together ...rock something other than your natural hair color ...fail countless times ...have your doubts resurface ...like music other than worship ...not reject everything about today's society ...enjoy hanging out with people who don't know how much God loves them ...aspire to have a job while having children ...not yet fully understand what the Catholic Church has to offer ...not yet read all the books people say "omg you have to read this." ...like to spend hours a week writing Instagram captions
No matter what, Jesus wants to be friends with you. What's your excuse for turning Him down? Have you let Him into the friendship part of your heart? He's not just a father, a ruler maker, of some holy guy on Sundays. Let Him give you the gift of friendship, and ask Him to teach you what that means."
Holy heck! Isn't that amazing? She does such a good job of pinpointing our love and desires and connects it with our Lord! You can utilize every single part of your personality and be friends with Jesus. That's what He wants. He created us to love and enjoy certain things and the thought that you have to "throw it all away" because you have to be "boring" to follow Jesus is so misguided.
So next time you're doing something you love like painting, running, singing, remember Jesus gave you those talents and He wants you to use and pursue them. You can still be friends with Jesus and pursue what you love!
