Unlocking the Creative

"This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.  Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.  I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.  My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God." 
1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Grace and Peace,

Through a leadership seminar I had the opportunity to hear from Durham’s former Chief-of-Police, Teresa Chambers.  Someone there asked her what was it like to be a female in a predominantly male career and she shared how when she first began her career, she received the best advice: Be the best policewoman you can be.

One of the struggles I believe we have in our culture as women is that we define ourselves by male standards and we want to measure the success of our life by what we do. However, I think the Lord wants us to measure our lives by who we are instead.  Part of who we are as women is our ability to influence and I believe we are especially called to influence through the gift of friendship.

A summary of the 1828 dictionary definition of influence denotes "power whose operation is invisible and known only by its effects, a power whose cause and operation are unseen, or a moral power of truth operation on the mind, rational faculties or will, in persuading or dissuading, as the influence of motives." 

Yet influence is different than power in its expression or outcome. How many times have I compared myself to Billy Graham, yet would I have been satisfied to be the person that shared the Gospel with Billy Graham? Which has done the greater work- Billy Graham or the person who shared with Billy Graham? It’s too easy to misjudge the works of our lives if we judge by what we ourselves accomplish instead of focusing on being who God has fully called us to be.  We can trust that as we show up in faithfulness that we will indeed be amazed at the impact of our lives- not by our own works but by the works that others have done in part because of the openness of our own lives.

Additionally we have friendship, which is the foundation of community. No one wants to be thought of as "a project."  The need to belong is one of the deepest of human needs and yet is regularly assaulted by injustice.  I once had a friend who had lost a baby days before he was due. She shared that in her healing journey of grief, a key moment in that process was when another friend came and wept with her. We need people to weep with us. We need people to laugh with us. We need others to experience life with us to know that we are living and that we will be okay.  Many times injustice will wrap walls around us of isolation. And though we may not be able to or called to bring down cultural walls of injustice, we can be a friend to another. It is the gift of friendship that can open doors of healing that go both ways.