You Have Something To Give

“The moment where you doubt you can fly, you cease forever being able to do it.” - Unknown

I am here with a retraction and a lesson. I recently wrote a piece titled, I Don’t Know. I wrote it in a time of insecurity. I felt I didn’t know what I was doing, and that God was using me because I had nothing. That everything that was coming out of me had to come from God because there was no way it was coming out of me. I don’t know anything. After I published it, I felt like something was wrong. Soon, I lost my inspiration. I felt I lost my motivation. I had put my words out there and made it official by publishing it. I confirmed how powerful our words are. I started to believe I had nothing to offer. With the loss of words and motivation I had nothing more to write. I knew something was wrong and I knew it came from my wrong confession. There are three things I took away from this mistake. 

We all have something in us to give. God is in the business of filling up empty vessels. He filled them up to make wine at a wedding to bless them. “Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.” (John 2:7) He used Elisha to fill up the jars with oil for the poor hungry widow to bless her and her son. “Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” (2 Kings 4:3-4). He used the boys lunch bag to fill the five thousand hungry people who came to hear him with food before wisdom. “Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” (John 6:11-12) He fills up to the brim and topping over to bless.

Your words have an impact on your gift. Ever been in a moment where you know it looks bad and you see everything is bad but you hesitate to admit it, because you know once the words come out of your mouth then it will be real. There is power to what we say. “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21) We can think about it and ponder it, but once it is out there, you can’t take it back and it causes repercussions. It starts in the mind so we must end it in our minds. Our words can affect our potential. I was in a situation believing I had nothing to offer and it became real once I said it. It’s the reason we need to be careful of what we say and how we view ourselves. If you keep telling yourself you’ll make it, and you keep claiming your promise and your goals, it makes a world of a difference.

Do not embrace your lack as final. Your lack can be an amazing motivational tool to get you to the next step. But sitting in my lack made me feel lower and lesser. That is a dangerous place to be. When we go around saying how we can’t win nor do we have anything to offer we are claiming it as something that belongs to us and is true. It is not about sounding prideful, but confident. We can be great speakers and not boast that we will make everyone else look bad. We can be amazing fashionistas without pointing out how we make everyone else look ugly. There’s a line and we are not crossing it by being confident. But we first must claim to have the skills. That is where sometimes the confusion of humility comes when we feel we have to claim we know nothing and can’t do anything but through God. Trust me, there is plenty we cannot do without Him but let’s at least claim the gifts He blessed us with. I am sure I wouldn’t want my child denying the new toy I bought for them to their friends. Instead it would be great if they share it with them so they all could have so much fun and be blessed together.

I have no regrets making that huge mistake and publishing it. It lead to more lessons learned which leads to more wisdom gained. Sometimes mistakes are the alternate route to a better you.