WHATS ON YOUR CANVAS?
By Laura Sonksen
Today I sat across my kitchen table with a beautiful girl. Her future is bright. She is a smart, conscientious student, a senior in high school with multiple acceptance letters from prospective colleges. She is considering her future wisely. On the outside, one would say she is well spoken, realistic and well adjusted. Continuing in casual conversation over chocolate strawberries and television noise behind us, I ultimately find she is broken on the inside trying desperately to make good of the hand she’s been given. It turns out that the most trusted and cherished voices in her life have not served her well. She’s been told many things unkind and piercing, some being “you’re too fat, you need to lose weight, you’re ugly”, words a person should never have to hear.
So many words spoken are over us and so many voices write on our canvas. I like to imagine that we’re born with a white canvas; it’s clean and untouched. As years pass, people write on it, both good and bad things. A teacher, a coach, a boss, a parent or boyfriend, they all use their own words to write, some with a very limited vocabulary, only that which they have known.
But for my friend, there were words that dimmed her once white canvas. She is the one who will inevitably pay for every poorly written word. She is the one who pays for her grand canvas day in and day out and it’s costing her soul. I took it upon myself to add fresh words of color and brilliant design to her canvas while coaching her on how to differentiate a truth writer and a false writer.
A truth writer offers words that align with what God says about you. The Creator of the universe says “I have a future that is good and full of hope for you”. Do your writers speak well of your future? He also says that His love for us is inescapable and even goes as far as to say that He “has made me in His image”, that must be good right? It certainly is. What do your writers sound like? Do they speak well of you?
What I ultimately wanted to say to this precious work of art was that she is everything good, despite any bad choices, her weight or anything she feels she must attain for approval’s sake. I wanted to say to her that, as one just a bit older than she, I am sorry for the harsh words that have been spoken over her. I wanted to stand as the other voice or voices in her life and apologize for writing so carelessly on her once perfect canvas.
The thing is, we all have “writers” but here’s the beautiful part, YOU CHOOSE who gets to write on your canvas. Even the most well meaning people in my life go through my screening process. If they are careless with what they have written on me, then they don’t get permission or the privilege to paint on my valuable work of art again. I choose the words that create my ultimate canvas. I am the one who pays for it, so I will guard what is valuable and priceless. What takes some people seconds to write could take me years to erase, so I fiercely protect it.
As a new voice, let me say humbly and wholeheartedly, I am so sorry for words misspoken and falsely written over you. Be set free from them. Let them hold no permanent place. Do your best to “re-write” with a colorful Sharpie words that are full of life, goodness and value to you. From here on out, you are given the right to fiercely protect your canvas. Choose well and with scrutiny who gets to hold the ink.
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