Yule Never Walk AloneSample

Lessons from Wonky Vegetables

I watched a programme called “A Special School” this week. It’s about a school in Wales for students with special needs. One of the teachers said this and it really impacted me:

“We need to work on correcting what we call a wonky narrative. A lot of our children describe themselves as really bad people, people who don’t deserve our help or our love and attention. Our aim is to change that opinion of themselves. We work really hard to make them realise that they are really important to us and they really matter.”

I love this. What a great mission this teacher and this school have. Helping these young people with special needs see how valued and important they are and correcting their “wonky” perceptions of themselves.

I believe that many of us live with a wonky narrative. We struggle with low self-esteem, feeling like we don’t have much to offer and aren’t really important. Sometimes we are wonky in the other direction and think too highly of ourselves. Most people I’ve met though tend towards the wonky way of not feeling good enough.

As we shop for our Christmas vegetables and we see the “wonky” range, let it serve as a reminder that we can be involved in the important work of correcting wonky narratives. We can encourage others and help to straighten out their wonky perceptions of themselves. We can make other people feel loved and valued by telling them the amazing qualities we see in them. We can offer hope, reminding others that they are a unique creation with loads of God-given gifting to be used in this world. These words of life have incredible power to correct wonky narratives.

We can also work on correcting the wonky narratives we have believed about ourselves that have perhaps held us back from reaching our full potential. Today I challenge you to work on your wonky!

Let’s make it our mission in this Christmas season to be correctors of wonky narratives. Wonky vegetables are wonderful! I will be including some wonky parsnips in my Christmas dinner. But when it comes to our narratives, wonky needs straightening out with godly truth and encouragement.

Reflection

Take as many opportunities as you can this Christmas to straighten out the wonky narratives you spot in others.

Ask God to show you the areas of your life you’ve labelled as wonky and unusable. Ask him to speak his truth into this. #workonyourwonky

Thank you for completing this devotional plan. If you enjoyed it please do check out the full version on Amazon – “Yule Never Walk Alone – 25 Festive Reflections.”

Happy Christmas,

Kate x