Don’t spend your life watching others making their contribution to the world. Make yours as well.
As someone who strives to deepen my relationship with God, I enjoy listening to Christian leaders via platforms such as YouTube. I also believe strongly in the power of prayer. So much so that without intention, my default could be starting my day listening to people like Pastor Dawn Davis Lawrence or Dr. Cindy Trimm pray. For a while, I thought I was really doing something. Did I really need to read my bible everyday if I was steeped in teaching about God? Of course, I did.
I had an epiphany. While listening to stalwarts in the faith or wise teachers is helpful in its place, I realized that the prayers of others – regardless of how public or private – are their offering to God, not mine. My offering is my sacrifice of prayer, talent, and preparation. The prayers of other Christians, the work of other people, can never be my offering.
These other items (Christian books, sermons, prayers, reflections, devotions, etc.) are meant to aid my spiritual growth. But they cannot substitute the work that I am called to do nor can they be the lot of my spiritual practice. When I thought more about this, I realized it wasn’t necessarily a surprising revelation.
I am a book lover and years ago – before I’d written my first book – I vowed not to purchase another book, until I had written my own. That was likely 2002. Sure, I admired those who poured themselves over pen and paper or computer and coffee and documented an offering for readers and prospective readers. It would take more than a decade after I made that vow – and many more purchased books – before I published my first book in 2017 and then my second in 2021. But the sentiment remains. I celebrate what others have done, and I’m eager to make my own contribution.
I want to offer to God something that I have created out of my own experience and journey, and based on where I am at the moment. I will certainly avail myself of resources (such as sermons or prayers from Pastor Dawn Davis Lawrence) to deepen my relationship with God, but those aren’t my offering.
As I contemplate my offering, I wonder if you’d contemplate your own. What is your unique contribution to the world, to your God, to the community in which you call home? You may see my offering, or part of it at least. But what is your offering?
Jennifer R. Farmer, aka The PR Whisperer®, is an author, lecturer and strategic communications expert. Check out our blog posts and subscribe for updates.