Do you ever get that voice in the back of your head that keeps telling you that your flaws make your gifts unheard, ineffective, drowned out, or devoid of meaning?
Note: When I say flaws, I mean things like imperfections, inadequacies, weaknesses; I do not mean sin.
I’ve been a public speaker now for the past four years, and I’ve had lots of people thank me for my talks and tell me how helpful the information I presented was to them. Yet when I think about being a speaker, so often all I can see of myself is: How I say “um” way too much. How I start too many sentences with “So…”. And how I sometimes gasp for air like a drowning person, because despite how many times I’ve gotten up in front of people to present I still get nervous and breathless.
Recently, I was feeling particularly subconscious about these flaws and was finding myself focusing a lot on them. I ended up re-listening to a TED talk by a famous speaker who I had heard several years ago. When I’d listen to this speaker the first time, I’d found her materials very interesting and quite helpful. But I was listening this time with all my own speaking flaws lurking in the back of my mind, and you know what I heard? I heard her use “um” a lot and “So…” at the start of a many of her sentences. And she was kind of breathless at many points. At this discovery, I found myself both relieved and then very challenged.
I was relieved because in hearing her I knew that I wasn’t alone in my speaking flaws, but meanwhile I was also very challenged. I realized, when I was focused on my flaws, I saw her flaws. And before when I wasn’t focused on my flaws, I hadn’t seen her flaws either.
Maybe you can relate to the above scenario or perhaps to this next example. Have you ever been to an event and felt self-conscious about what you were wearing? In such a position, do you know what most people end up noticing during that event? They end up noticing what every other person is wearing. Now sometimes the results of these comparisons come out favorably, but other times not so much. Thus, I want to bring us back to the challenge in this. If I’m not worried about me, then I’m probably not going to worry about the comparison either.
We all have areas of skills and abilities in which God has gifted us, and we all have flaws.
What if we focused not on our flaws but instead on our skills and abilities? Because, this “if-then” works both in a negative and a positive way. If we can see our own skills and abilities in a healthy way, then it’s also easier for us to see other people’s skills and abilities and encourage them in what God has given them to use for His glory.
“Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.” ~Romans 14:19~
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received…these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”~ Philippians 4:8-9~
Challenge: Focus on the good gifts God has given you, so that you can encourage yourselves and others in pursing the things God has appointed for you to do.
When the rocks speak 