I love bargain shopping. I’m actually – probably – a tiny bit (LIKE TOTALLY) obsessed with it. If I’m being honest ya know.

One thing I really dislike tho – is getting home and having “clearance” stickers stuck to all my pretty new things. I really hate that! It spoils the fun to have the item itself shout “I got this for a nickel!” That’s what I like to say!

stranger: I love your fancy designer handbag!
me: Thank you dahling! I got it on clearance at goodwill.
Marcus: Do you have to tell everybody that story?!
me: Yep! It’s soooo fun!

But when you can’t get those pesky labels off it’s very annoying. And some of them stick shockingly well! I mean I totally have labels that won’t budge despite being soaked in hot water, scrubbed with sharp objects and screamed at!

There are things I own that were built to stay together that have nothing close to the tenacity of those stinky labels!

Ahh. Isn’t that how it is in life too?

You’re young. An adult says something. And it wraps itself in all it’s sticky glory around your heart. And even good labels can limit you.

Of course the bad ones – duh – are devastating! The “she’s not very bright” or”he’s really clumsy” or the terrible ones children tend to put on other children.

But the truth is, even the “good” labels can wreck havoc.

Hear “She’s the pretty one” enough times and your identity becomes intertwined with the ability to maintain your looks. “He’s the athlete” causes great angst when agility is not required and he didn’t in fact, make the college team so – what is his value now? And so on…

We tend to put people in categories. Not always with a mean intention – and not necessarily with an agenda… it’s just kind of what we do.

But are we putting a ‘ceiling’ on them when we do that? Just because he’s the pretty one, can’t he be smart too? Just because she’s a talented musician, can’t she be athletic?

And most importantly – do we think of others in a hierarchy of value based on the labels we’ve given them? We respect the people whose labels make ours look good – we ignore the people whose labels mean nothing to us…

Have you let someone else slap a clearance label on your soul?
Is it still there?

I know I’ve done that. I know how ferocious those things can be. I know how hard it can be to scrape and scrub and pull – trying to get them off. Emotionally I’ve been left bloody and bruised more than once. And I’m not always completely successful in removing them.

So I want to be ooohhhhh so careful in placing labels on others… and I hope you will be too.

And I want you to know that – whatever category you were shoved in to somewhere along the way – your future does not have to be defined by that. Not even by your own mistakes. Period.

Yesterday is done. Today you get the chance – where ever you are in life – to make a different choice. Clearly we all deal with consequences – so I’m not going to pretend you won’t have a mess to deal with! BUT! You get a brand new slate of opportunity TODAY.

And extravagant grace that meets you exactly
where you are with the
biggest bottle of “goop off”
you’ve ever imagined!

You aren’t ruined. You are precious. There is a beauty and a set of gifts wrapped inside of you that the world needs! No matter the package – no matter the label – no matter the number of times you’ve been discounted and tossed out — the world needs YOU.

Please, take it from someone who has been there and has tons of battle scars — don’t give up. Your future is FILLED with hope and promise. And you, my friend, are worth it – just exactly as you are this very moment – you are worth it.