Good Monday Morning, Team!

So, this week is a weird one of sharing words and terms that, well, don’t and won’t make sense to you (yet) :), but so make sense in my head. LOL! And so, I am gonna go ahead, dig in and divulge the first one, and it is called: 

“Camou-FAMILY-flage”

Uh, ahhhhh and OH?? So, what do I mean by THAT? 🙂

Well, just like we have chatted before about secret hidden BLIND SPOTS in our spiritual life (and PS please check out the previous blog post for further details), now is the time to take a look at the truth that all through our youth we have absorbed, applied and derived some serious “FALSE FAMILY TRUTHS” from that, well, trust me, we sometimes (all the time????) don’t even see.

And since I am sure you are likely still slightly confused by that explanation, please let me clarify by describing MY “camou-family-flage” situation. And it goes like this:

So, I am born into a sure, steady and solid stock of GERMAN family bloodlines and heritage. Oh yes, my maiden name is HENGEN — Bet you don’t know another one of those! — and, well, my Great-Grandparents sailed across the ocean blue to wander deep and through to the prairie skies of blue. These strong, PROUD people did not allow nothing or no one to get in their way. They landed, conquered and became pretty darn GOOD at whatever they decided to do.

And it is true! There are still a lot of seriously talented people in the HENGEN gene pool, and, well, “Hey, world, you better look out because WE are still proud, loud and very ALLOWED to show and share all our ideas and cares with all of you because?? Well, let’s face it, ‘whoever shouts the loudest and longest WINS,’ and we always win, right??”

Oh yes, “winners” we all ARE (and even if you don’t agree, in time you will see how RIGHT we must be). This type of mindset feels FULLY “right,” and “right” to all of us! This is WHO we are, HOW we are, and NO apologies needed for the “unchangeable trait” (dare we say TALENT??) of pride. Because really, aren’t we just a little bit better than everyone else?

And if we get a little hotheaded, well, THAT is just our GOOD GERMAN GENES coming out! No need to change it … or even more “true,” we CAN’T change it. But really, why would we ever attempt to anyway?? It is what pushes us past where other people stop … and our key to super “success”!!

So, OK, that is the OLD HENGEN in me speaking. And as I listen now, I can clearly HEAR a lot of errors in that chatter. But back then, you know what was MOST the matter? The fact that I couldn’t even SEE that this “family trait” in me really was a “camouflage-cover” for ANGER and PRIDE.

Oh yes, these reactions and responses were so ingrained in so many of us, that, well?? I never ever even saw it there, let alone thought it was something I could DO anything about. I was in a full-on, full-in state of “CAMOU-FAMILY-FLAGE.”

Catch what that phrase means now?

And the more I chat with people, the more there are things in EVERY family that they all do, because that is how they SEE themselves genetically to be. Or maybe things they couldn’t ever call out because they are so ALL about. And so, how would you even know to go looking for them??  

Well, that is one of the GIFTS of getting into GOD’S word, ‘cause no matter what your family says, HIS voice will be heard.

And for me, it was well past time to look at the “GERMAN” trait for what it really was: stinky old anger and pride. And the more I read GOD’s truth and HE told me what I could be, I WAS able to SEE this trait for the truth of what and why it was here. I COULD review and re-choose to DO something new. These “family traits” could now become CHOICES I could CHOOSE to CHANGE! Not because I said it could be done, but because GOD says that was HIS end game.

Yes, according to HIS FAMILY TREE, there really was a whole different ME — that was always meant to BE.

And you want to know what this old, cranky, angry and prideful CAROL is now called by her daughter? Well, how about … HAPPY! (And not just regular “happy,” but as Hailey says,  “annoyingly HAPPY!” And I will take THAT as a huge compliment!!)

Nope, I am NOT perfect, but I am oh-so-in-PROGRESS … and I LOVE that as I opened HIS WORD, HE opened my eyes to see that the “FAMILY Traits” in me were not ones that always had to be.

But what about you?

Do you SEE anything in your family that, well, “is just the way we are” or has always been there and that maybe people say is just part of your family’s personality? 

Do you even think that those FAMILY traits CAN be changed? And is that a challenge you would be willing to take on?

So can’t wait to see what YOU have to say about this!

Carol 🙂

CHANGE … Choice … Truth….