Random Discription

Words. They can be used for so many things. They can convey action. They can represent objects. They can communicate thoughts and ideas. They can provide description. 

Now as far as descriptions go, I'm sure each of us have been described by others in many ways that have been interpreted both as positive or negative. Hard-working. Lazy. Punctual. Late. Rich. Poor. Messy. Perfectionist. Conservative. Manipulative. Pretty. Slow. Fat. Socially adept. Quiet. Tall. Amazing. Different. Popular. Wise. Funny. Accepting. Stupid. Quick. Selfish. Introverted. Faker. Joyful. Thoughtful ...I could go on, but you get the idea. These words are all words that have been used to describe me. I have heard them used about me in the past 9 months. In thinking about and actually writing them down, I come to realize how much power I tend to give words. The ones that I see as negative especially stand out as personal failures, as ways in which I have not met expectations. On the other hand, the ones I think of as positive are on a level a normalcy, descriptions which I tend to impossibly expect myself to live up to without fail. 

Yet in looking at these words I can see just how many of the words I interpret as negative also have their opposite in the list of descriptive words. Seeing so many of these words in one place causes me to realize just how much these words depend on perspective. How the speaker of the word sees me will influence what words they choose to describe me. How I'm thinking and interpreting will influence how I interpret those words said about me. These words rely on perspective. And the influence that these words can have on me is determined by how much weight I give them. 

Thinking logically, I knowing how easily my own view of others can be greatly influenced by my own attitude/mental state at the time of interaction, so that should be taken into account when I hear others describe me. Thinking of it that way, the only descriptions I can rely on to be fully true of me would have to come from somebody who knows me in every way and in every situation. The only one I know who knows me in this way is God, and according to Him, I am chosen by Him, alive in Him, free through Him, and I am His. 

Now....getting back to what I was going to share when I first wrote the title of this blog. Yesterday I was described in a way I had never imagined would happen. Ever. One of the ladies from the clinic invited her Mexican boyfriend to visit her at work (and to bring us all supper), and throughout the course of the evening I noticed that, though his first language was obviously not English, he would speak to everyone in English, but when he was talking to me he'd switch to Spanish. Finally, out of curiosity, the question came up as to why he was doing that, and he turns to me with a look of confusion, which was soon met with a look of astonishment when he asked, "You're not Mexicana?"