I think it’s important to know your strengths.
There’s been a dramatic shift in this thinking in the past few decades. It used to be that employers, companies and even individuals would spend time identifying their areas of weakness and try to bolster them.
But now, thanks to Strength Finders, Myers-Briggs and some other philosophies, areas of strength have become much more important. So now instead of trying to strengthen weak areas in a person’s gift set, more energy is spent developing a person’s natural abilities.
I think that makes sense.
Not that you should never challenge yourself in an area that doesn’t come naturally. But as far as seeking out careers, volunteer positions or areas of leadership, I think if you work with your God-given strengths, you’re just setting everybody up to win.
One thing I’ve learned in all my different jobs is that I am an excellent vice president.
I don’t necessarily have the confidence and ego to lead a charge. But if I believe in the leader and he/she believes in me, I can rally troops behind them, support and encourage them to no end, and we can take the hill.
It’s not that I can’t lead. I can and I have. But I don’t HAVE to. Some people HAVE to. And if our values align, I will gladly step aside, let them call the hard shots and help execute their strategy.
But SOMEbody’s gotta go first. And if I’m brutally honest, I’d rather it not be me. I’d rather watch somebody else take a risk and succeed, then follow in their footsteps.
But I don’t know that God ever really adjusts His plan to match my personal preferences. And that’s kind of annoying.
I remember when I was working in youth ministry and we took the graduating seniors on their senior trip. We were doing some whitewater rafting (LOVE IT), ropes courses and various other outdoor adventures in north Georgia.
But I was carrying a secret. I had JUST found out I was pregnant the week before. I was probably five or six weeks in and I hadn’t told anyone other than family. The fatigue hadn’t caught up with me yet and the nausea was threatening, but nowhere close to full force (and oh, it was coming).
So I just rocked along with the gang and no one was the wiser. (Although my mom and sister were constantly calling me to ask how I was feeling, telling me to sit down, eat, drink water and BE CAREFUL, etc.)
One of our adventures was repelling down this cliff. None of us had ever done it before, but it was something I had always wanted to do.
I just didn’t want to go first.
Our instructor talked us through it, assured us that there was no way we could fall since we were all hooked up, we hiked up to the top and all looked at each other. The guys were chivalrous enough to say ladies first, so I stood there looking at my girls and said, “Okay, who’s up?”
Silence. A lip quivered and some tears threatened. Nobody moved.
“Come on, you guys. You heard the man. You CAN’T FALL.”
One of them timidly spoke up, “Lindsey, will you go first? I’d feel better watching you do it first.”
Ugh. She stole my line.
Well, what was I supposed to do? Up at the top of a cliff with a bunch of scaredy-cat girls, pretending not to be one of them, pretending to be an adult. I sighed and did the only thing I could do.
I bluffed.
“Fine. Yeah, I’ll go first. No problem.” The dude harnessed me up and I clenched my fists to keep my hands from shaking.
“Look, y’all. It’s no big deal. Watch. Piece of cake,” I lied through my teeth. Inside, the discussion was going more like this: Yeah, I could totally die right now. I’m about to step off a cliff. On purpose. Nobody’s holding a gun to my head. This is ridiculous.
But knowing that if I thought about it too long, I’d talk myself right out of it, I took a deep breath and stepped off.
The rope held, of course, I did everything I was supposed to do and made it safely to the ground. The girls cheered from the top and were suddenly arguing over who got to go next. They just needed to see it could be done.
Sometimes we get to follow somebody’s lead. Other times, we ARE the lead. And God doesn’t always let us choose.
Somebody has to go first.
I’ve watched in awe as friend after friend has raised money, grinded through the process, waited for months, even years to finally adopted a child. Several have done it multiple times. And the work doesn’t end when the child comes home. That’s when the hard work REALLY begins.
I’ve known people who have walked away from the American Dream indefinitely to go serve as missionaries in dangerous, impoverished countries or dedicate their lives to the serving the homeless in our own country.
I’ve seen others build non-profit organizations from the ground up to fight sex trafficking and abortion. Spending their own money, raising more and giving hours and hours of time to help a person they may never lay eyes on.
And every time I see another example of this radical obedience, it makes me a little braver. One more little piece of me says, I could do that.
And the truth is, I really can. We all can.
But what about when God wants ME to lead the charge? It usually goes like this:
Okay, kiddo. You’re up. This one’s all you.
Me?! Oh Lord, I don’t want to go FIRST. I mean, I’ll totally do it, if You really want me to…
I do.
… but could You please show me someone who’s already done it. Just to lend me a little of their courage and I can see how it’s done.
Oh My child, how quickly you forget. I’ve already done it. I’ve already done it all. Please refer back to your Textbook.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).
He left the comfort of Home to rescue others.
He spoke to the outcasts.
He restored the rejected.
He threw away His reputation to focus on His mission.
He fed the hungry.
He experienced hunger Himself. And fear, loneliness, exhaustion, temptation.
He asked God for another way, yet submitted to His Father to His own detriment.
He adopted us Gentile orphans.
He laid down His life for His friends. And His enemies.
He stepped off the freakin’ cliff. And there was no rope to break His fall.
The truth is, we’ll never really have to go first. Our Savior has paved the way, every way, and will never ask us to do something He hasn’t done in some form or fashion.
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written (John 21:25).
And while He didn’t live His earthly life in a world of iPhones, Google and social media, as Solomon says,
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
The human condition is what it is. Our experiences may vary by time and culture, growth and technology have not changed the core emotions, desires and instincts of every human who has ever lived. We have all faced different versions of the same problems.
So maybe what looks like Him asking me to lead is actually an invitation to follow.
Follow Him. Because He’s already done it.
And that sounds much more doable.
