Last Sunday night, I had a serious choice to make. Since I'm not a big TV watcher, I usually don't have the challenge of deciding between two shows. It was the Dallas Cowboy game OR the Miss America pageant. The Cowboy game won. Later, on social media, I heard about the Miss America pageant. It wasn't so much about who won, (Miss Georgia) but about the woman who received 2nd runner up to the crown. Miss Colorado Kelley Johnson did a monologue in scrubs sharing her role as a nurse and that she's not "just" a nurse. Despite a lot of people advising her against doing the monologue, Kelley stated "I'm a nurse and that's my talent." Some criticized her. Others mocked her. Most applauded her, especially nurses.
Why were so many drawn to Miss Colorado? She was real. Authentic. Dared to be different. Courageous. The face is, she could have been a teacher, a waitress or a scientist. Her courage to dare greatly and be herself was convincingly refreshing and freeing. She didn't allow the perceptions of what people could or would say about her cloud her decision to do the monologue. In face, she didn't hand her identity over to anybody else!
We can be so consumed with image management. Our insecurity can take charge when we're placed in competition with others. Whether it's body image, career path, age, health, home size, wealth or education, we are tempted to one-up someone else. The mental comparison charts that we build in our brain are crazy! We rank people in our minds as to how they rank against us. If we're better? We win. If we're lesser? We lose. Then, of course, we strive to get enough "likes" to make sure enough people are glad we're still on the planet. Image management. Let's call it what it is. Insecurity.
Sadly, our insecurities can cripple us. We can be so insecure that we seek out others to affirm us. Am I valued? Am I liked? Am I appreciated? When we seek that from others, it's a vulnerable position to be in! Someone else is holding our value and we have no control. No one should hold that kind of power in your life.
Guess what? You ARE valuable. No matter what or who you are. No matter what you do or don't do. No matter how much you have or don't have. Whether you're married, widowed, single, with children, without children, older, younger, minimum wage earner, maximum wage earner, PhD or high school graduate. You are valuable. What would it be like to know your true value? The value of anything comes from who it's made for. We're made for God! God is the one who gives you value. And whom you are made for supplies ALL your needs. We often look elsewhere for value and acceptance, not even knowing it! God is gracious. He waits and waits for us to come to Him.
Some of you today don't feel like you're that important. Others don't receive the affirmation you think you need. Will you let God determine your value today? Don't look to your boss or spouse or social media for getting the number of strokes you need. No one can perfectly meet your needs. But God can and will. If you let Him. God knows how to take the negative believes off your heart. Stop looking to the world for your strokes. Christ died for YOU. Christ loves YOU.
Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.
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