The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you’re not good enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don’t take it personally when they say “no” — they may not be smart enough to say “yes”.
– Keith Olbermann
Isn’t that the truth? Just at the moment when you catch a glimpse of the stunning possibilities God might have for you, someone will inevitably pull their pin out to pop your balloon. It happened to me last night. Sitting on the porch God was speaking into the next season of my life. I was excited. I wrote my post, and then jumped onto facebook to see who I could connect with. And that’s when a family member popped all my beautiful balloons. I won’t say more about what they did — especially because it was simply an immature and poorly guided action — but I felt devalued as a person.
Here’s what amazed me, and later convicted me: their action had absolutely nothing to do with any real detail of my life. It didn’t affect me in slightest. In fact, they are the ones who are missing out on experiences and voices God wants to add to their life. Their action literally changed nothing.
But I let it erase all those lovely possibilities from my mind. I lost the vision. Their action put me into defensive mode for the rest of the night. As the quote says, I did their work for them.
Not today, my friends. Not today.
Mark Batterson, in the Wild Goose Chase chapter on not being caged by your assumptions, encouraged me to “swim in the sea of possibilities like a little child.” It’s a gorgeous, 75 degree South Florida day. I have work to do that God has given me. I have people around me who are depending on me — without even knowing it — to notice the ministry opportunites that skitter across my path during a day like today. Today I do not have time for people who are busy walling others out of opportunity.
In fact, perhaps like the Old Testament prophet Nehemiah, I will stand today on top of a wall and call down “I have a great work to do…I can not come down to your level.”
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
what a great quote! thanks for sharing.
Yes, great quote and a very timely one at that.
Marla,
Thank you for your post. You know, I do the same thing all the
time and that is : I listen to myself, the devil, or any body
who tries to tell me I can’t do it and before I know it the thing I was so excited about gets pushed to the back burner.
Thanks for sharing the quote and blog. Yeah, you tell em’ girl:
NOT THIS TIME, THIS IS WHO I AM, I WILL NOT BE ANYONE ELSE! I needed this, thank you.
Such a great quote. The first time that I saw this on a coffee cup I was almost baffled. I finally found something that made sense of my life(the world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you’re not good enough). This is the life I’ve been living and this quote really inspired me to keep going like I already have. Brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
Ah, I did an internet search for this quote b/c I saw on a coffee cup and was likewise stunned and saying “Yeah… yeah!”
Thanks for posting it – a great reminder not to take things personally
.
i second that notion. i love this quote and i divorced a year and a half ago and was so irate about it then i happened to look down and read my starbucks coffe cup. ha. keith olbermann made my day and this will forever be my favorite quote of all time. i even cut the cup and made it into a magnet and i passed it down to a friend when she split up with a relationship. classic.
Thanks for sharing that, Monica! I hope Starbucks brings back the quote cups. I enjoyed thinking about them all.
amazing! i found this on my cup and saved it..i cant believe its on this page. amazing amazing amazing!!! you have fabulous taste. i repeat FAB-U-LOUS, three words baby