Your Potential: If We Would Only See Clearly in the Mirror
How a different message to our own hearts could light a fire for change around us: Our imperfections aren't too bad for us to be used for good in our communities.
I love the concept from Seth Godin I just encountered, “Torrents are made of drips.”
The general idea is: big outcomes, start with small choices or actions. If we wish to have great change, we have to start small and do it consistently, adding one thing to the next and eventually we will have results that we are able to see, and feel. Today’s society expects “small action - huge outcome - in 30 seconds or less.” Oh my how irrational our human expectations are when we expect this!
I would suggest that if we want to have fundamental change in our communities, states and nation, we have to start by looking in the mirror.
STARING BACK AT YOU
I think much of the hold up right now in our nation, is with getting men and women of faith to engage in the local community activities. The cause of the holdup is likely a huge case of Self-Doubt.
Self-Doubt is a nasty beast, destructive, crippling, and stifling. And if you don’t deal with it, it will restrain you and by restraining you it holds back all the good you could be doing.
Deep down, we each want our lives to contribute to something good. However, I suggest that many get stuck by what they see in the mirror, and by the message the little voice inside tries to convince us of.
For example, when opportunities come to serve on a local board, host a coffee for a candidate, lead a movement for your local school, run for office, rally the neighborhood children for a summer program, or decide to speak up at a city council meeting … I think most Americans (people of faith too!) hesitate.
Instead of seizing the moment with optimism, and excitement, seeing it as an easy opportunity to give back to your community, full of promise and potential - we grapple with huge fears.
We hear the Self-Doubt screaming back at us:
I’m not good enough.
Someone else will do it - besides I’m too busy.
No one will come. I’m not really a leader.
No one will follow. They will laugh at me.
No one will respect me. Gosh I don’t even respect me!
It’s not worth the unknown and the possible rejection. Yep, I can’t do it.
Those are all valid, normal, rationale reasons for why people (you and me perhaps) stay way from trying to make things better.
A NEWER VERSION
Now, do you want to know a secret we need to share more, to people like you and me?
The whisperings of Self-Doubt are all lies. And in order to be set free from these lies that hold you back from sharing hope and solutions with those around you … you have to choose a new mindset and approach first beginning with you.
You have been convinced that YOU don’t matter, that YOU can’t change thing, that YOU as one soul, one mind, one body, cannot make mass improvements or turn the ship.
The deceivers of the dark world have forced you to sit on the sidelines and believe that you are worthless and the world you have before you is what you deserve and nothing will get better.
Don’t tell my mom I’m using this word but - that’s all crap. And you have been waiting for someone to call it out in you. This is that moment.
So would you like to know the truth?
Your life (yes, YOUR LIFE) is a GIFT. Your origin story does not define who you are or what you can do, your value, your potential, or your worth. What matters is what YOU believe. I am 100% certain your life is a GIFT from GOD to all of us. I just need you to believe it.
WHAT YOU WERE CREATED FOR
God created YOU (yes you) for a very good purpose. And it is not to just hide away.
He said, “I know they can help me bring about hope and good in this world.”
I think God’s heart also says, I am going to give them this skill for doing good. I am going to give them these resources, these dreams, these visions, these hopes because I want to partner with them to make them a reality in this world.
YOU are not too late.
YOU are not too broken, or too imperfect, or too full of mistakes.
The idea you have, the person God has put on your heart, the issues that God has been stirring you to expose, the questions He has been showing you to ask - have been revealed to you for a reason. YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED, your presence in the neighborhood is needed, your gentle question, your kind gesture, your presence and joy, consistently overtime will draw more people to the good you are seeking to share.
But you have to change what you believe about yourself, and choose to start with one step, a drip, a small move forward.
Before you know it you will have created a movement.
Because you chose to believe truth over lies and show up.
THE MIRROR AND THE TORRENT
Friend, you are meant for this moment in time.
Don’t let the crafty deceivers of this world keep convincing you that you shouldn’t speak up or show up.
Look at yourself in the mirror and if you have to, do it for 21 days straight (a possible formula for starting to create new habits) and tell yourself:
I may not yet see it, but God loves me
I may not yet believe it - but GOD created me for good purposes
I have been told lies all my life but I choose to believe what God says about me
I have been created for such a time as this
I have a purpose
I have good I can do
God will help me!
The good we all desperately yearn for in our nation, starts with getting our own heads, souls, and hearts right.
It is time you believe truth: you are a GIFT from God to the world, the skills He has given you, the passion He has been showing you — is needed. It’s time you start to believe it.
You are loved. And the community around you is waiting. It’s time to show up and let your life start dripping truth, solutions, compassion, joy and hope around you. Before you know it you will have contributed to a movement. And all the little things make a huge difference.
AJH
Thanks, Amy, for sharing these truths!