I hope & trust this post finds you all having had a great weekend on this beautiful Sunday evening.
What a last few days it has been! We saw the end to a wonderful baseball season, our youngest Tender Warrior turned 11-years old and we had an event for the ages at my work. It has been wonderful, exhilarating & exhausting! Truly blessed beyond measure...
This evening I want to share a couple of quotes with you that I shared on Twitter this week and expand on each briefly.
"Your message, your ministry, your influence is built from your flaws. People relate to HUMANITY...not to perfection." - Mandy Hale
What a beautiful and, if we allow it, liberating quote. A few thoughts that quickly come to mind:
1. You & I don't have to be perfect and in fact, we never will be. This doesn't mean we don't strive to reach our potential or to do the very best we can at whatever task we are given...the expectation of these things is in fact Biblical. There is a big difference however between the expectation of perfection and the expectation of doing the very best we can. When we hold ourselves accountable to an unrealistic expectation we set ourselves up for failure and then we deal with all the baggage that comes along with this perceived failure. Let us strive not for perfection but the greatness that God has placed within us.
2. We, as human beings, are really good at trying to hide our flaws. However it is our flaws that people relate to and understand. What if we didn't work so hard to hide our flaws but openly admit them, apologize when/where necessary and strive to become better...not perfect? I believe our message, ministry & influence would be much greater.
3. It is really a sick, funny cycle. I am not perfect however I pretend to be. I then look at you and pick apart your imperfections. You in turn aren't perfect either - I know this because I am not though I expect you to be though I know I can't be - and you, while hiding your imperfections point to my imperfections. So we have a whole lot of imperfect people running around pointing out the imperfections in others while going to extraordinary measures to hide our own imperfections. And on and on it goes!! It is absolutely crazy!! What if today is the day that you & I stopped all the pretending & expecting? What if today you & I decided that we were no longer going to try to hide our imperfections but rather admit them, deal with them and grow through them? And what if today we also decided to stop trying to hold others to this impossible standard? What if today we just decided to love people for who they are, where they are? Will we be made fun of, ridiculed, called naïve? Perhaps. However what happens now when we play the other game? The same thing. AND most importantly, how do our hearts feel now? I know mine doesn't feel so good when I fail to meet perfection or when I have torn apart another, either in the words of my mind or the words of my mouth.
4. Perhaps if our message, ministry & influence aren't what we hope or wish they would be, we should start by embracing who we are, even the messy stuff, and use this as the platform to pour into the lives of others. As Mandy Hale stated perfectly, "People relate to humanity, not perfection."
"When leaders are confident in their abilities & trust God for the outcome, they are comfortable with the chinks in their armor." - Brad Lomenick
I absolutely love this quote! It speaks to my heart. And oh yes Friends, this quote ties right back to the first one.
1. So play it out a step further. And if we are confident in our abilities, trust God for the outcome & are comfortable with the chinks in our armor, we don't hide them. We are pure, true, authentic...chinks in the armor & all.
2. The "trust God for the outcome," part speaks GREATLY to my heart. It is when I feel inadequate, when I start trying to play or be God, that the real troubles start. I am not asked or expected to be perfect, control all outcomes, etc. I am asked to pursue the Lord my God with all my heart and to work as though I am working for the Lord and not for man. Period. I do those things, I can then trust God to do all the things He has promised to do.
3. It is when I do these two things, trust the Lord & believe in the abilities that He has given me, that I am completely comfortable with who I am. Please notice that it does start with me - trusting God and believing in who He has made me to be. There is nothing anything can say or do to prevent these two things from happening...it is a deliberate choice I will make. You can make the same two choices Friends.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful week & please cherish your precious families.
Kev
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