I Am Becoming

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

From a young age, I became an achiever.  Certain things came easy for me, and I knew how to use them to my advantage. I learned that achievement came with reward – whether that was adult praise and/or approval or shiny emblems of success like badges, certificates, pins, plaques, and statues. The pitfalls of all of this, of course, is that I began to equate accomplishment with who I was, and I’m not alone.

After a Saturday afternoon of going through boxes of my mementos, I was blessed to go to A Conversation with Michelle Obama on her Becoming book tour. The Former First Lady knows the power of connecting through storytelling. She began to recount growing up on the South Side of Chicago, where she had “everything” or “nothing” – depending on one’s lens. She was that smart kid, the one who excelled. She got into Ivy League Schools, and when she graduated, she took the path that was expected of her. She got the corner office job at a law firm on a high floor. She bought the condo and car expected of her status. She checked all the right boxes, but she wasn’t necessarily fulfilled.

Like many, she moved through life doing what others expected of her (family legacy or societal norms) - living out the crafted image of what success looked like. In Mrs. Obama’s case, she realized while sitting in her office facing the South Side of Chicago, how distant she was from the place. Looking through the window, she could see it, but she wasn’t in touch with it. On her quest of becoming - “a way to continuously reach for a better self,” she realized that if she wanted to go somewhere, she had to reach. That process is different for everyone. For her – she had to reach back; for others – it may be reaching up, forward, or even down.

Photo by Boris Smokrovic on Unsplash

Perhaps, one of the most profound things she shared is her self-doubt. Even with her intellect, education, success, and station, she struggled with feeling she was good enough to be in the room, in the circle, or on the platform.  Eventually, she realized she was enough – as she is yet becoming.

The Apostle Paul speaks of becoming or being perfected in Philippians 3:12-14, Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 

Let’s press on to become the best version of ourselves that we can: not who we were a decade or two ago, last week, or even yesterday.  Let’s define ourselves by who “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3: 14) says we are. I am Antoinette, and I am becoming who God created me to be.  It’s never too late to become what you might have been. Please leave a comment below to share who you are becoming.

Happy Thanksgiving! As stated in 3 John 1:2: Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.

©2018 by Antoinette V. Barber