I'm reading the book 'Called: Becoming Who You Were Born to Be,' by Kary Oberbrunner, and in the Introduction there was a quote by Marianne Williamson that just punched me in the face. I'll drop her truth bomb right here:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our own light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Yea, I know. Hard to follow that, huh? Here's the thing, though. She's totally right. I think there are a lot of us who want to hide our light under a bushel and not let it shine. Where does that idea come from? From God calling us to humility? What is true humility as defined by the Bible? We are called to admit our weakness and lack in order to bring glory to God. On our own, we aren't much, but God in us is HUGE! God in us is beauty and wisdom and knowledge, and all the things!! We have all of that because we have admitted we are nothing without Him-not that we are nothing!! We have admitted that every good thing comes from Him (James 1:7). We don't want to exalt ourselves, but we sure as heck need to exalt God, the one who made us!! When we let our lights shine, we are showing people God. This is what God can do!
Confidence says, “I have skills and I recognize them.” Arrogance says, “I have skills and others must recognize them.”(1)
What are you going to say to yourself today?
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