I totally agree. My first response to that quote was "No way! Inadequacy is absolutely my greatest fear." I thought further reflection on it might change my opinion, but it hasn't.
It is a lovely thought though.
I do love this quote, though I have moments of my own inadequacy. I agree though that we are made to manifest the glory of God, and that in doing so we give others permission to shine as well. I know this won't help with any feelings of inadequacy,sorry. It is possible, though, that this quote is still true for others, just not your life story at the moment.
Contextually, I don't know who this Marianne Williams was talking to. For all I know she might have known what everyone's greatest fear was.
My guess is that she didn't. I think that might be my biggest issue with the quote, she makes this assumption that she knows what everyone's greatest fear is, I don't even have the confidence to say I know for sure what my greatest fear is, let alone everyone elses. Plus she picks a fear that probably never occurred to anyone who she was talking to before to actually fear.
I think we, as children of God, are capable of a lot more than we expect of ourselves. The strength of the quote is that it gives a truth to people to live out. It aims to become self-fulfilling prophesy as everyone reads it and says "My gosh, she's right, I'm amazing!"
I think when we perform well we give others a vision and a calling to follow. And I think we glorify God. I think the image of God has so much more power in us than we give it credit for. But I think our ability to be good, to resist the power of sin comes only by the grace of God. It's because of God, we're amazing, not us.
When we're walking around thinking we're doing pretty well, I wonder if that's just because we've lost our perspective of what true greatness is. It's like what they say about how the closer you get to Jesus, the better you can see how far from him you really are.
Plus I don't think this world has much of a problem with people saying "I better not be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous as I might make others feel bad." Whatever peoples' reasons for holding back are, in my experience, it's rarely so that other people don't feel insecure. I don't think we're concerned enough about other people most of the time to even seriously consider how they'll feel when it comes to us being "brilliant".
So yes, I think we need to give people permission to shine. But I think we need to call people closer to the God who empowers them to shine, rather than causing them to look inward for who they truly are.
I just checked out Marianne Williamson's website, and I reckon if most people knew she said it and not Nelson, they wouldn't be quoting it. I could be wrong but I reckon it's Nelson Mandela's name attached to the quote that gives it's legitimacy, rather than the inherent truth within it.
I agree with the Mandella part, I think it was a publicity stunt from M Williams camp. Good thoughts Tom. I do think in Oz we have a problem with tall poppies, and this is in our psyche. We don't want to say "I played a great game today" coz people will say we're too full of ourselves. But we had a good game! Why does it mean we are important that we play a good game? Or not important if we have a bad game? I think we attach importance to the things we do rather than who we are.
So I think we should stand up and be who God has called us to be. If we are called to lead, we should take the lead without apology. If he wants us to speak truth into others lives, we should look them in the eye and speak truth as God's ambassadors. If he has called us to serve in the unseen, we should walk a thousand miles without needing to be thanked or noticed. But all these things are not who we are, they are just what we do. We ARE a child of God, this doesn't rise or fall based on our security or insecurity thankfully. This thought helps me, coz it is about who God is and who he sees me as. Not how I interpret it or feel about it. And when he asks me to step up, I have found it's best to trust him rather than me when I wonder whether I am the right choice.
This would have to be my longest ever blog comment, thank you ladies and gentlemen and ball boys.
Just a thought. Who is she talking to? Sounds quite a bit like new-age, positive-thinking clap-trap to me.
If you don't know Jesus, you don't have 'light' to shine.
And yes, I could never hear Nelson Mandela's accent in that quote, so that probably explains it...
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