Looking at my old pictures, I can proudly say that physically, at least I have evolved from a dark-skinned and skinny boy that I am before to a dignified-looking banker that I am today. Proof to that is how I am labeled in my workplace. As an office newbie, my boss used to call me Fido Dido, obviously because my look resembles the character of the Sprite’s TV commercial. After several years, I am now tagged as "Matt Ranillo". Not Matt Ranillo the III (The Actor) but Matt Ranillo The Dead (Laughs!).
Kidding aside, as a student and office worker my appearance and stature in life contributed a lot to my low self worth and lack of confidence. When surrounded with affluent classmates and colleagues, I've always felt small, thinking having less in life, I am not capable of achieving more. That inferiority complex unconsciously led me to entertained self-doubt and diminished my self-trust.
Not until I came to know myself as a dear child of God. I’ve known that I am precious in His eyes. That I am deeply loved, cared and important. That unbounding Love alone gives me confidence, a childlike confidence in the Father's love.
With that knowledge came the realization that beyond physical transformation, what matters is who we are, what were made of, and our worth as His beloved Children.
The psalmist beautifully exclaims in Psalm 139:13-16:
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
One day, I came accross this beautiful story, I cant wait to share.
A black child isolated himself from a group of kids playing in front of a church. A balloon salesman tried to get their attention. So he released one red balloon and it soared up high. Then the blue, then the yellow. It all went soaring up until they all disappeared. The black boy asked the man.
“Sir, if you’ll send the black baloon, would it go as high as the others?”
The salesman answered, “It isn’t in the color, Son, it’s what’s inside that makes it rise.”
