Month: May 2025

I’ve spent way too much of my life trying to be what everyone expected of me.  I would strive to fit the “mold” of whatever I was doing.  If I am a preacher, I need to look, act, talk…be a preacher.  If I am a baker, this is what bakers do…  If I am a father or husband or friend or whatever…there is a list of what is expected.  The trouble is – I am not ever going to fit the description of any of those things completely.  Here’s the deal – I can only be Brad.  Sometimes that is good.  Sometimes…not so much.  I speak before I think and often say things that are better left unsaid.  If my mouth doesn’t say it, my face definitely will.  I am quiet and loud at the same time. And I throw myself completely into my work and I am extremely dedicated.  

I’ve learned that as long as I try to fit into someone else’s description, I will not ever do it well – at least not in the long term.  It isn’t sustainable.  I am Brad… not anyone else.  I will never be a minister like Jerry or a gardener like Gabe or a baker like Duff or a father/husband like Mr Cleaver.   And I have to live unapologetically as Brad.  Except, I feel like I should apologize for being Brad most of the time.  It can be a bit much sometimes.  

So I guess I’m just trying to encourage myself and you… just be you.  The worlds needs you to just be you – your absolute best version of yourself.  I often use the phrase, “highest and best”.  What if we just gave that?  I won’t always but I can sure try.  And If I am the highest and best version of Brad – that has to be enough – it is, after all, all I have to give.