What if we approached each day believing that we are enough? How would our days go if, instead of waking up thinking about all that we aren’t, we woke up planning to win the day just as we are?

I saw someone this week that I haven’t seen in probably 5 or so years. She is someone who was instrumental, years ago, in waking up the inner athlete in me I thought had died 25 years prior. She is not someone with whom I have maintained a relationship. Our life paths took us out of regular contact. Still, Sarah is someone I regard as a personal hero.

Hero is a strong word. I know. But, I am pretty sure I am not the only one that has a personal hero or two. They are the people who manage to circumnavigate our best defenses, our stubbornness, and all of the weirdness we bring to the relationship. Our heroes are the ones who help us conquer our doubt, challenge our fear, and be better versions of ourselves.

Here’s the thing: Our heroes are regular people. They impact us because of who they are, not because they have it all together. That is where I get hung up in my thinking. So often I focus wholly on what I’m not. My incorrect focus prevents me from showing up for other people in my life.

In 1983 Joyce Landorf Heatherley wrote a book called Balcony People. In it, she describes two kinds of people: balcony people who encourage us and lift us up and cellar dwellers who constantly discourage and drag us down. The book is one I think of often. It is my favorite of all time.  When I consider the people in my balcony, my heroes, there is not a perfect person among them. Most of them are hot messes just like me, but they made the cut anyway.

When I think back to a little more than 7 years ago when I met Sarah, I remember some of the personal struggles that she shared. She was a regular person living day to day like everyone else. She was just in the right place at the right time to be just what I needed. She showed up, looked me in my eyes, and offered piles of encouragement.

After my conversation with Sarah this week, the phrase “for such a time as this” came to mind. The phrase is found in the Bible. Queen Esther was in a pickle. She had to decide if she would risk her own life to save her people. Her cousin Mordecai said to her “If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14 CSB)

Survival of our people or certain death is not a choice most of us will ever need to make. We are who we are, though, the good the bad, and the ugly. We have a community, relationships, and a people group realm of influence. We can be heroes, too, by showing up and being who God made us to be each day.

You are enough. I am enough. We have what we need this day to impact the people we encounter. That is true even when we feel fat, uneducated or any of the other things we feel prevent us from being who we wish we were. It is also true when our own life feels off-kilter, when we are busy, or when we feel we are just going through the motions. None of those things negates our uniqueness or our influence on the people we encounter.

Perhaps our circumstances are what they are “for such a time as this”. Let’s make sure we are present with people as we go about our days. We can offer encouragement. We can look people in the eyes. We can be whatever it is that makes us who we are, and perhaps be a hero to someone and never even know it. All we have to do is believe we are enough just as we are.