Today’s post comes from Kris Valloton an associate pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California. I’ve visited this church and if you are ever in the area I recommend it highly.
Kris writes in his book Supernatural Ways of Royalty:
“You have to be a human being before you are a human doing. When we try to do something without first being someone, we usually find ourselves making a living at a job we hate. Another ramification of this failure to discover true identity is that many people learn to derive their self-esteem from what they do. This may seem fine for a while if they perform well. When they can’t perform anymore, for whatever reason, their self esteem goes into the pit.
This point was driven home to me a while back when I took a long plane trip to the South Pacific. I sat next to a young college student. We had an 11-hour flight together and we seemed to have nothing in common. After a couple of hours I decide to try to get some sleep. When I closed my eyes I had a thought about the young man sitting next to me.
I turned to him and asked, “What do you want to do with your life?”
“I want to be an attorney,” he replied.
I found myself saying, “You’ll be a lousy attorney!”
He perked up and in an angry voice snapped back, “What do you mean by that?”
I said, Attorneys have an extremely high value for justice. They need justice so badly that they will violate relationships to get it. You have a really high value for relationships. You need to be validated, loved and nurtured. Your need for justice is low on your priority list. The first time you get into court and have to attack someone’s character to make your case, you’re not going to sleep at night.”
“That’s exactly right!” he said.
“You know what you need to do?”
“No, what?” he replied.
“You have an amazing gift mix. You have a very creative side that expresses itself in something like acting. You also have an extremely left-brained side that likes to organize things and administrate them. I see your bedroom being really organized and the clothes in your closet hanging in the order of color. You would be a great movie director if you would give yourself to that.”
He almost jumped out of his seat. He said excitedly, “I do organize my room and my clothes just like you described. I have always wanted to be a director and I was the head of my drama class in high school!”
“That’s what you need to do with your life,” I told him. “You’re the next Stephen Spielberg!”
Many of us spend our lives doing something that is very different from who we are. When our activities are an expression of our person, it is amazing how much we enjoy what we do.”
I don't know if you'll ever have the good fortune of meeting Kris Valloton. He has become well known for his uncanny insight into people's lives. But let this short passage serve as your own wake up call.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
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