It was Summer holiday;a period every child(even adult) anxiously anticipates. During this period, most children get more actively involved in fun-packed activities ranging from :visits to fun-parks,friends and more importantly a holiday at the Grannies’;where they inadvertently turn their grand-parents to the  Chief Justice of the Nation,because at Grannies’ ,every parent shall be prosecuted for allegedly ''spoiling the rod to spare the child” But dear parents,never you relent anyways, kids will always be kids,they must have a case to be judged against you at their grannies’ court of law! hahaha…

So,on a lovely sunny summer Saturday,i asked my five years old nephew Kosisochukwu (A.K.A Kokonma as i fondly call him) who over the summer holiday developed a passion (born out of a famous Nigerian  comic characters–The Indomitables) to make a sketch of me. I guess i was rather asking for too much from a little sweetheart who had just developed an interest in drawing comics,and not human beings. Well,his reply after a little giggle “i know how to draw a house,a car and cartoons ,i don’t know how to draw a human being but i will try”, intrigued me a lot.  And the lovely image below which he crafted using a soft copy picture in my phone’s picture gallery is Aunty Ujunwa!!! hahaha!

Do not despise your days of little beginning! #Epic

Over time,we have taken tons of pictures ,and if you're a picture freak like me,i bet, you take pictures/selfies of yourself like everyday.Pictures we jealously preserve in hard drives,wall frames, and photo albums.Pictures that bring back sweet,lovely,painful memories,pictures we often share with families,friends, and not excluding our social media followers with hash tags #Fam #BFF #TBT #WCW #MCM #TGiF  etc.

But frankly, do these pictures reflect our true image;who we truly are:our inner beauty and flaws?  Do they even depict (100%) our true PHYSICAL beauty and flaws? With the emerging high level of tech-edition/filter applications,i doubt if they do!  Also,some people are thought to be naturally photogenic while some are not due to some factors which are centered on confidence,setting/background,individuals' mood,and mechanical(camera) or photographer's flaws. Dearest, "your image of yourself is all a lie" Jacques Lacan.

An image according to The Concise Oxford Dictionary is "a representation of the external form of an object,the character or reputation of a person or thing as generally perceived." Hence,our individual image is unique,it embodies our genetic being,cultural,religious,linguistics background,as well as our interests and abilities. A child unconsciously derive identity from the world(the people) around him,but as he grows up into adulthood, his mode of identity derivation changes. He chooses his appeal amongst the several options the world presents to him,he deduces how he would want to be viewed by people. He becomes so conscious of his image,and in fear of losing it,he jealously guides and defends it from being crushed.

When embarrassed,our self esteem evaporates like a puff of smoke leaving us in some kind of trauma.This shows that man's self-esteem  could be in direct contrast to his/her false image. However  in a quest for True Self Image Discovery, and how to align our lives with our true self to ensure internal harmony in this life,hence boosting a healthy self-esteem,we ought to:

• discover the meaning and  purpose of our life. Myles Munroe rightly says,"You start existing when you were born,but you start living when you discover your purpose."
• raise our values and standards, else we'll lose the essence.
  
• state our priorities and beliefs,as well as our passions in life so as to be fulfilled.

Conclusively,the pertinent question still remains 'who and whose are you truly are?' Until these questions are addressed,we'll be faced with trauma caused by our daily struggle to uphold any self- image  built outside of Christ. As for me,I'm Imago Dei (Image of God),unapolegetically created in the likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27). It is only in Him i live,  and move and have my being(Acts 17:28). God's confidence(e.i the confidence one finds/have in God's Word) is the ultimate. Boost your image in God,and ignore the negative image the world paints of you. #Shalom