There’s an advert doing the rounds here on the telly where a cat suddenly ‘sees the light’, tunes into the joy of embracing life, and declares that he will be more dog.

Chewing sticks. Running with abandon through long grass. Greeting everything and everyone with wonder and delight.

It’s just an advert so there’s no harm in it (and there’s lots to be said for greeting each day with delight) but, in real life, what would happen if different species decided to stop being the creatures they were created to be and, instead, starting copying the animals around them?

What if the chicken, seeing how relaxed looking the cow is, decided to stop rushing around pecking at stuff and instead, just ate a little bit of corn, every now and then, and chewed each piece 15 times?

And what if the goldfish, seeing the contented, smug looking cat on the other side of the glass, decided to try living on land for a little while instead?

And the snail, seeing how much fun the bird has, what if he decided to ditch his shell and take up flight?

It sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? You’d be forgiven for thinking that I’d lost the plot but really, isn’t that what we do?

How many times have you wished you were more like so and so?

Or maybe you looked at the life one person had created, and tried to figure out how to reverse engineer it, so you could have the same life?

It’s great to look to others for inspiration of course. I’m not saying don’t be encouraged or inspired or uplifted by other people, but you are only seeing their show reel, the highlights. You don’t see all the backstage stuff.

What if instead of needing to make a bunch of changes to be more like someone else, all you really needed to do was step up and be more you?

The you on a good day you. The made in the image of God you.

Thinner. More patient. More organised. Better focussed. More loving. Taller. More Godly. Cleverer. More eloquent.

The list could go on and on.

What if all of that stuff was irrelevant?

What if you didn’t need to be more or less of anything?

What if God, in his infinite wisdom, made and loved you, just the way you are? The perfect vessel into which he can pour all his love?

What might today look like if you really knew and believed that to be true?

What if?