Someone
asked me recently, what’s the worst response I’ve gotten when I tell people
about the World Race. Honestly? I haven’t really had anyone respond
negatively… everyone’s been incredibly encouraging. But one thing that kind
of blows my mind is how amazed people are. I’ve gotten a lot of “I can’t believe you’re
doing such a great thing!!” … But to me it doesn’t seem incredible or
unbelievable. Yeah, it will be hard at times. I’ll be living in poverty. Yeah,
I’ve had to “give up” a lot of things, a lot of comforts and year
away from family and friends. Yeah, I’ve spent literally every penny so I can
give away my time for someone else’s benefit. I’m gonna be a
“missionary” … (And yeah, it’s weird to hear that word attached to
me.) But it’s not “unbelievable.” It’s exciting!
that I’ve been selling myself short. I want to live more. I want to
livebetter. I want to learn to be everything God
created me to be, not just some of it. I think this is a good first step.
People seem to think that following God is equivalent to sacrificing your
personality. They think Christianity means living inside a set of rules that
doesn’t allow you to be yourself. It’s just the opposite! C.S. Lewis puts it
nicely, “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves
we become — because he made us. He invented all the different people that you
and I were intended to be…It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself
to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my
own.”
been set free from the things that I used to be so wrapped up in: the values
America teaches us to be concerned with: success, stability, safety. Let’s all
work 5 days a week so that we can not only put food on the table and clothes on
our backs, but money in the bank to buy nice things and entertain ourselves.
Since when does entertainment buy happiness? We are taught to spend so much of
our time working, checking things off on to-do lists, and creating a nice,
comfy safety-net for ourselves. But is that all there is to life? Maybe it is
for some people, but not for me.
9-to-5, I want to experience life. I want to do bigger things. I want
to change the world, and I want to be changed. It’s not a dream too
big for reality, and I will put no limitations on myself, because I am
a child of God.
“Our deepest
fear is not that we are inadequate.
beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We
ask ourselves,Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually,
who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not
serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children
do. We were born to make 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 own 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.” – Marianne Williamson
