I’m that person that walks into things. You’ve met me or you ARE me, right? All of my ‘most embarrassing moments’ have something to do with being awkward. Not watching where my feet were going. Focusing on something other than what was right in front of my face.
It’s done wonders in keeping me humble and taught me to not take myself so seriously!
One of my strongest love languages is ‘Words of Encouragement,’ so it really helps me to verbally hear that I’ve done something well. I need that. But if I’m not careful it can create another tension in me, another way I can awkwardly walk right into things. Because if I hear, ‘Well done!’ toooo much, no matter how hard I try to push it back, I can become proud. Or at least take my eyes off of my need for God and stop looking to Him for strength. Are you with me?
I’m usually impressed with myself right before I fall down. Over the years I have grown and hopefully improved, but every time I realize I’m becoming prideful, if I don’t intentionally realize that it has nothing to do with me, something happens that makes me fall flat on my face again. I have a bad event, a bad day or sometimes a bad season.
Here’s the truth: anything I do well really has nothing to do with me. After all, how can I take credit for that Still Small Voice in my ear (God’s Holy Spirit) that tells me which way to go, what to say, what to do even when I don’t realize it’s Him? How can I take credit for the natural giftings that I was born with? For my genetics? For insights that God Himself has taught? For values passed on to me? For passions that He instilled?
I guess the only thing that any of us can really take credit for is in the ‘yes.’ The ‘yes’ to acting on an idea, ‘yes’ to doing something our conscience compels us towards, ‘yes’ to working on and growing an innate talent.
Even then the free-will to act for ourselves is a gift from God. Even then it’s His leading, teaching, training and even basically and profoundly the suggestion or event that causes us to cognitively notice and say, “Yes,’ in the first place. But God does grant us the ability to also say, “No,” if we wish.
The ‘yes’ brings powerful, living light from our relationship with God.
I read an article about teen suicide recently and about how social media is producing a culture where our youth are terrified of being ordinary. To live ‘normal’ lives. To “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life…and work with your hands.” (1 Thess. 4:11) What a horrible pressure to put on our kids!
Just this morning Humans of New York posted this from a young lady in Russia, “I’m afraid I’ll live a useless life and nobody will remember me. I don’t feel a strong interest toward anything. If I do, it’s just a momentary thing, and then I drop it. I tried acting. I tried swimming. I tried dancing. But I got bored with all of it. If I don’t choose something soon then I’ll leave nothing behind. We only have a certain amount of energy in life. If you don’t put it somewhere then it’s wasted.”
She’s right and she’s wrong at the same time. We all want to be worthwhile, but can confuse the value of what we do with who we are. Accomplishment becomes a barometer of worth when real value is in the being, with what’s in the heart. “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7) Things like love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22) determine living successfully and are what actually impact the people around us. Let’s put the limited energies of our lives where it counts.
Life must become less about importance and more about living in His Presence.
So how do we live like that? We are all different with unique things that drive us, but for me it comes down to dialing down my heart and meditating on Who He is. His magnificence that He displays through all that He has created. Right now outside my window I see a barren winter tree on a dreary day. It’s summer colours are gone, yet it’s beautiful in the spindly angles and symmetry of its frame. There’s a Tui that spends a lot of time there simply singing for joy. God guides the tangle of each branch and He would notice if that Tui fell, yet He holds the patterns of the stars of the universe in His hands. And somehow He knows and values me. And you.
A little bit of that sort of regular pondering and prayer and I find it easier to avoid pride and say, “Yes!” to whatever small thing He’s put in front of me today. And when something goes really well and get’s noticed, the regular act of prayerful meditation helps me remember that it was still just all about the ‘yes.’ The rest is all Him.
Saying, “Yes,’ is an act of faith. It can seem perfectly natural—or be perfectly terrifying! The ‘yes’ is where the victory is achieved, before the rest happens. It’s where freedom comes, where joy is created, where peace is gifted, and it is the birthplace of anything extraordinary.
So “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with you one wild and precious life?” (Mary Oliver)
All photos in this post by my talented friend Alice Laing.
Heather Pound 