I hadn’t heard of this quote by Marianne Williamson before the
movie, “Akeelah and the Bee.” I am all
for good quotes, but it’s the ones oozing with volumes of hidden lessons and
meanings that catches my attention.
Eventually, I found the rest of the quote and printed it out.
I misplaced that it years ago, but lately a piece of it has
resurfaced in my mind…the part that poses the question “but who are you NOT to…?” You know how sometimes you’re in a
certain place in your life where you find things that are significant for the
moment, but that “fizz” eventually dies down?
Well that’s what happened to me with that quote. It wasn’t until about a few days ago,
actually, that I began thinking about it again.
As I found it on Google and reread it, a sad reality hit me. Marianne wrote that quote over 20 years ago
in her first book, “A Return to Love.” I
don’t think she knew just how much of a deep impact those words have made over
the years and even now.
But the reality I came to is that many of us today live our
lives in a minimized state. We minimize
ourselves, our thinking, our talents, our gifts, and our abilities. For many reasons, but the main one being
fear. This four letter word has been the
robber, culprit, and common denominator of many people’s dreams. We’ve been held captive, petrified to take
that step into destiny. Instead, we’ve
controlled and control ever move we make just to appease the menacing presence
& voice of fear. We’ve allowed fear
to convince us into thinking that we’re not worthy of our talents and that our
presence will never measure up in the eyes of the world. But as the quote says, who are we to NOT
think so?
1 Peter 4:10 (NLT) God has given each of you His great variety
of spiritual gifts. Use them well to
serve one another.
Each one of us is equipped with talents and gifts that ONLY WE
can distribute to the world. Many of us
are on the cusp of entering into destiny…what we’ve been placed here on earth
to do. We can’t allow our own defeated
conversations, the criticisms and judgments of others to keep us from fulfilling
our role. 1 John 4:18(KJV) says “There
is NO fear in love; but PERFECT love
casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.
He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (emphasis mine). This scripture isn’t saying that our love is
to be perfect, because of course, we aren’t!
What it’s saying is once we recognize the One whose love IS perfect, we
can rest in that perfect love and move forward in confidence. The scripture pointed out something
interesting…”fear hath torment”….How many of us wrestle with being tormented by
fear? (Hand raised) I’ll be the first to admit.
Day in and day out, we know there’s a greater purpose for our lives, but
we submit ourselves to the torturous effects of fear. That’s not God’s intent at all!
I want to encourage whoever reads this to know that you are
worth something. Your talents, gifts,
and abilities are important and needed.
God has designed you…and ONLY you to carry out His good will for His
kingdom. So begin today with the
intentional decision to own up to your call and move in the perfect love of God
and fulfill your destiny. Be blessed!
*******Here are more encouraging scriptures I use
daily in this process:*******
Romans 12:2
Proverbs 18:21
2 Corinthians 10:4,5
