Little Sally Walker walking down the street. She didn’t know what to do so she stopped in front of me and said “Hey girl, do your thing, do your thing now switch.”
Anyone remember this game from like 84 years ago? We play it pretty frequently around here as world racers. However, I noticed something different tonight when we went to an orphanage.
The children here had a pretty large range in age from little kids about 5 or 6 to full grown teenagers about 16 or so. As we were playing doing all kinds of weird dance moves in the circle from disco to dabbing to running in place- the little kids went for it and the big kids were so shy and awkward. I know this is a game for little kids, but they’re demeanor wasn’t of “I am too cool” it was more so “Oh goodness I got picked now what- everyone is watching.” At some age or another we often grow into this and possibly out of it, where we think too much about what other people think instead of being authentic in exactly who we are called to be.
The Lord calls us to have a child like faith knowing that we are already perfect, goofy and authentic in Him so we don’t need to care about what other people think of us. So why do we often look for our worth in other people? We are already worthy before others can even form an opinion about us.
I remember when I had to get up in front of my church to speak about The World Race- what it was, why I wanted to do it, what they could pray for and all of that. I was freaked out. I am not really a shy person by nature, but standing under the bright lights knowing everyone is watching did not exactly put me in a peaceful state. However, one of the pastors on staff told me a good nugget of advice. He said “Kamiren it’s not about you.”
And it wasn’t. He was totally right.
Everything we do- we do for the glory of God. It is all kingdom living. If that means I am dancing and looking ridiculous for little kids in an orphanage, I am doing it for God. If I am sweeping floors in my host home, I am going to sweep them as clean as possible for the Lord (which is really difficult living with 12 other long-haired ladies). If I am going to sing worship songs in church, I am going to do it for God and no one else.
Often our pride will stand in the way of the bigger picture, but God didn’t give us a spirit of pride.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22 ESV
When opportunities present themselves we can rest on these fruits of the spirit and nothing else.
I once heard a sermon on pride and how it stems from selfishness. Selfishness is the root because it is us holding onto control. Thus thinking that God is not in control when we doubt that we can’t handle His plans for us. As for me, I had to let go of my pride and do a crazy dance to bring joy to the kids to today, and I rocked it.
Because it wasn’t about me.
