STOP BEING DUMB

This is a guest post by my good friend, Rachel. Check out her blog.

Picture this.

You're at church or in class, and everyone's introducing themselves. The next kid gets up, looks anywhere but at the rest of the students, and says in a bored monotone, 

"I'm Billy. I'm from Pleasant Grove, which is about 20 minutes away. I'm studying Exercise Science.... And that's about it."

When pressed for an interesting fact about himself, he either recites his favorite sport or some quirk about one of his siblings.

I hate that.

I don't hate poor Billy for being boring (which he may well be). I hate that he thinks he's boring.

To all the Billys in the world, listen up. You were born awesome. And you have to deal with that.

I didn't always think I was born awesome. I once tried to pawn off being from Delaware as the answer to where I'm from and the interesting fact about myself. Not cool.

But now I think I'm pretty interesting. I can't wait to stand up and introduce myself. And this is why.

In the last General Conference, Elder Russell M. Nelson said,

"As a dual being, each of you can thank God for His priceless gifts of your body and your spirit."

I know that my body was born awesome--a body that always walks as fast as possible. A body that enjoys participating in eating contests. A body that likes the feeling of leaves under its fingers.

I know that my spirit was born awesome--a spirit that longs to discover the common thread in the lives of humans through the ages. A spirit that loves to celebrate obscure holidays. A spirit that thinks words are more beautiful than pictures.

God gave me my body and my spirit, which He carefully crafted and nurtured. And He did that for Billy and for everyone else. There are lots of things that have helped me realize this: listening to a dear friend when she was crying, blogging about my experiences with beauty, being loved by a boy, giving others sincere--sometimes awkward--compliments.

But at the end of the day, I think you have to just trust God when He keeps trying to tell you how much He digs you. 'Cause He sure is trying.

And if you need some encouragement along the way, just ask me: You're awesome. So stop being dumb and just believe it.

-Rachel