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PROGRAM D-7260

Accept who you are, but don’t settle for where you are.  It’s that fine line we walk between knowing and appreciating God’s handiwork in us, and always striving to improve ourselves for the glory of God.

I’ve encouraged you to accept your personality, but work hard at polishing it.  To accept your gifts, and use them so that God will give you more.  To accept your body but do everything you can to make it stronger and healthier.  Accept who you are, but don’t settle for where you are in the growing process of life.

One last thing about ourselves we need to accept and that is our intelligence. Maybe you had to fight for everything you learned in school and good grades did not come easily.  Or you might have been the type who could cram for a test at the last minute and ace it.  It may not seem fair, but God has reasons for these differences in IQ and mental capacity, and we need to accept who we are when it comes to intelligence.  But don’t settle for where you are.  Keep pushing the envelope to learn as much as possible.

Scientists tell us that we use only a miniscule portion of the potential in the human brain.  And what I’ve discovered is that when I push myself mentally, my brain power seems to increase.

My mother lived to 93, and all her adult life she memorized large portions of scripture. When dementia set in the last few years of her life, she had a hard time remembering certain things, but you know, she remembered the scripture she had memorized.  It was amazing to hear how much of it she could still quote, though she wasn’t able to tell you what she ate for breakfast.  Right up until the last days of her life she read the Bible and did what she could to keep her mind strong. She was and still is a great inspiration to me—and many others.

You may not have the highest IQ around, but you’ve got far more brain power than you realize.  Don’t settle for where you are intellectually; become a student and continually work at learning more.  And if you’ve been blessed with lots of brain power, remember that to whom much is given much will be required, so be sure you’re making very good use of all that mental capacity.

Accept but don’t settle.  I hope you’ll remember that little phrase, because I believe it will help you to be more content and appreciative of who you are, just the way God made you.  But it will also remind you never to let yourself off the hook because “that’s the way you are,” but always strive to be all that you can be for the glory of Jesus Christ.