Imagine being Michael Jordan - incredible at basketball - yet feeling like you needed to excel at being a clarinet player. You might go through life shooting a few hoops but you would train, train, train during your clarinet lessons, hoping to be the very best you could be, in order to live up to the expectations of others.
Meanwhile, your natural gift would languish, harpooned by those very expectations.
Carl Rogers is a writer whose writings I love.
By the way, he is the father of modern American psychology (and studied to be a Lutheran minister at one time).
He posits an interesting question for his readers: what is the meaning of life?
As Christians we understand the answer to be obvious but listen to how he answers the question, what is the meaning of life?
"To be that self which one truly is."
I'm sorry but that knocks my socks off and sets my hair on fire simultaneously.
I think it is truth that we Christians need sorely to hear ... no, not just hear but hear and digest.
He goes on to say that 'one is never more strong than when one is fully one's self'.
I think this has powerful ramifications for those wanting an authentic walk in Christ ... not an experience that has a shelf-life of just a few years. If you achieve authenticity in your life in Christ, you can fully expect to navigate life's mountains and valleys well (notice I said navigate, not avoid) and reach life's end stronger than you started.
You just have to relax into God's natural gifting for your life.
You need to put down the clarinet and start playing basketball again.
If you are a writer, write.
If you are a musician, play.
If you are a businessperson, deal.
If you are a chef, cook.
If you are a speechwriter, write speeches.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. When you embrace who you are in Christ, your light will never show more brightly. Your organic attributes that God put in your DNA will blaze forth, sending his fragrance everywhere.
In other words, being yourself is godly.
Here's some homework ... consider what I have said then apply it to your life by asking God to show you if there is any truth in it for you.
See you at the game!
(follow me on twitter! connect with @Blankenthoughts)
Meanwhile, your natural gift would languish, harpooned by those very expectations.
Carl Rogers is a writer whose writings I love.
By the way, he is the father of modern American psychology (and studied to be a Lutheran minister at one time).
He posits an interesting question for his readers: what is the meaning of life?
As Christians we understand the answer to be obvious but listen to how he answers the question, what is the meaning of life?
"To be that self which one truly is."
I'm sorry but that knocks my socks off and sets my hair on fire simultaneously.
I think it is truth that we Christians need sorely to hear ... no, not just hear but hear and digest.
He goes on to say that 'one is never more strong than when one is fully one's self'.
I think this has powerful ramifications for those wanting an authentic walk in Christ ... not an experience that has a shelf-life of just a few years. If you achieve authenticity in your life in Christ, you can fully expect to navigate life's mountains and valleys well (notice I said navigate, not avoid) and reach life's end stronger than you started.
You just have to relax into God's natural gifting for your life.
You need to put down the clarinet and start playing basketball again.
If you are a writer, write.
If you are a musician, play.
If you are a businessperson, deal.
If you are a chef, cook.
If you are a speechwriter, write speeches.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. When you embrace who you are in Christ, your light will never show more brightly. Your organic attributes that God put in your DNA will blaze forth, sending his fragrance everywhere.
In other words, being yourself is godly.
Here's some homework ... consider what I have said then apply it to your life by asking God to show you if there is any truth in it for you.
See you at the game!
(follow me on twitter! connect with @Blankenthoughts)
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