Be who you are
So many things to write and so little time in which to write them ;)
I yielded to a friend's persuasion and went to church with her yesterday. It was good to hear the speaker talk about the need to find out who we are, instead of always trying to be like other people or project certain images of ourselves. She said that we have to be ourselves in order to be able to do what God would have us do, because the doing flows from the being.
Reminded me of this story that last month's conference speaker related: his sister and a friend were sitting side-by-side, gazing at a sunset, and his sister happened to remark, "Isn't God amazing, to have created something like this?" 15 years later, his sister met up with that friend again, and the friend had become a Christian. The friend said, "It all started with your comment -- that got me thinking."
Such a small thing, yet it had such huge ramifications. When you think about it, this girl had just been being herself. Her spontaneous exclamation over the sunset hadn't been made with any kind of overt intentions; it wasn't an attempt to evangelise. She probably didn't even think she'd said anything unusual. But what she said stuck in her friend's mind and heart... and eventually produced a harvest.
So I think that a lot of times, the things we do affect people, whether or not we realise it. Sometimes we affect others negatively, sometimes positively. You may feel that what you're doing is nothing special, especially if it comes naturally to you anyway. But you don't realise that your actions or words have been very significant to that one particular person.
I like to remember the verse where Jesus says that if you even give a cup of water to a person because the person is a believer, you will not lose your reward. Don't you think it's a very ordinary gesture to offer a person a cup of water? We do it without thinking, and then completely forget about it. But it's significant to the thirsty one who drinks the water... and it's significant to God.
That's what I mean when I talk about the doing flowing from the being. It flows so naturally that you don't even realise you're doing anything extraordinary. Maybe that's why Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Or, as The Message puts it, "I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you." Yes, because if you allow yourself to be who you are, it will all fit. And it won't be onerous or wearisome any more.