Behind Every Man is a Woman

Forgive the title... couldn't find one that would capture the purpose of this post... and no I'm not married...yet.. 

This entry is dedicated to my mum... a woman I esteem very highly, not just because she is my mother and has brought me up ( I figure she has done quite a good job really.. if I may say so myself).. but because of her achievements even outside the house... 

Yesterday, one of our local papers featured her in a section they call "Every Woman" (there is probably a proper name for such sections... so educate me).. they are 2 popular papers in Malawi and this is one of them... anyway.. I had seen her working on the questionnaire they had sent but had not looked at her answers... so when I read the article I was amazed.. you can read the aricle here .

Here is my favorite quote from the article "I think until one gets to grip with who they are in Christ, they can hardly call themselves successful; they may have possessions and positions but may not be successful in the true sense of the word because they lack peace of mind which is what we all seek to have." This was in response to the question "Has being successful changed you?"

I find that response to be very interesting and challenging.. because I think a lot of the people we consider to be successful lack this one key element... peace of mind. From the interviews I have read and heard of some people whom the world considers successful, the lack of peace seems to always stand out. "It is lonely at the top" is a phrase many of us have heard so often repeated by these successful people and we perhaps have prepared ourselves for that to happen when we are successful. Yet if one has this peace of mind which Christ offers they will not have that lonely feeling when they are successful.

The other aspect is this... we are only successful if we come to terms with who we are in Christ i.e when we discover our identity and purpose in Christ and begin to live it out. Paul tells us in Ephesians that "we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to perform the good works prepared for us beforehand." 

But I digress from the title of this entry... I have drawn a lot of lessons in life by just watching and learning from my mum. She is an amazing woman and I am truly grateful to God that I was born her child. So, behind this man, is the woman I call my mother...

B U

This is something that I have been thinking about for the last couple of days... ok maybe 2 weeks now if not more. Many of us have heard it said over and over again that we should be ourselves at all times, that is to be original and not a copy of someone else. Phrases like "you are the best at being you", "no one can do you better than you" and many other such phrases are quite common. Yet the advice is lost on us... how many times do we go out trying to be like that famous person..whether movie star, sports star... for the Christian we can add preacher, praise and worship leader and other such people who seem to be successful and have made it in life?

While it is good to have models from whom we can learn, we should also recognize that they are where they are to do because of their unique traits. They would not have made it if they had tried to be like someone else and the same is true for us. If we work at being a carbon copy of someone else, people will look at our lack of originality and not give us respect.

Let me just throw this in as well... those people we try to emulate are what they are today because of the different circumstances of their lives and the environment they find themselves in. Our own circumstances and environment are very different from theirs.. and so the elements that have made them who they are today are different from those around us. It is therefore an attempt that we are going to fail at, in other words, if you are working at becoming a carbon copy of someone else, the probability of you failing is very high... we each have a different set of circumstances, our make up is different and these add to our uniqueness which if we exploit, will give us that edge for success.

All of this is coming from a recent experience I had. A few weeks ago, a person I look up to asked me to lead one of the Bible Study groups at a Youth Conference. Now this person leads a Bible Study that I go to and I am amazed at the things he is able to bring out from the Bible. In a sense he will pick out all that can be picked out of a verse and apply it to life and our experiences.. he thus speaks directly into our lives. Now when he told us this (we were a group of 4), he went through the Bible Study outline with us..and again his ability to expound the scriptures was evident. During this time, I tried to take as much notes as I could so that I would be able to share the same depth of insight into the Bible with the group I would lead. You see, I knew that he would be going around the groups and I did not want to disappoint when he came to our group.

When I went back home, I went through the guide again, carefully reading every scripture and trying to follow his example. As I did this, I realised that the things that were standing out to me were in some ways different from what I thought he would have brought out... so I tried to look at the scriptures from his perspective... what would he have seen from this scripture, how would he link them up? I tried.. then it hit me, that I was unique and he was unique. I was not as old as he was, he had grown up in a country and environment very different from my own, he had been discipled by one of the best Bible Teachers I know... all this made me come to the conclusion that as much as I admired his gift and desired to teach the Bible as he did, I was different.

The notes I took during the time we went through the outline together were only to be pointers, but God wanted me to open up to him and allow him to speak to the group I would have and he required that I use what made me unique to speak to them. 

I changed the angle I was approaching the study. I began to read the Bible as I read it in my own quiet time and God began to bring to light certain things that I could share with the group. I took note of these and added them to the notes I had already taken. I went to the meeting armed with these and we had a good time. To cap it off.. when he was rounding up the study, he used some of the things he had heard being discussed in our group to summarise.

So in everything that you do, BE YOU. Models or mentors are good but bring your own uniqueness in everything that you do, the thing that makes you different from them. The world would be a very boring place if all of us were the same, our uniqueness makes the world better and it also reveals God's creativity. Remember that you were fearfully and wonderfully made they way you are. He has a unique purpose for you and you will only be able to fulfill it if you use those unique traits.

BE YOU