Who do you think you are?

So Nehemiah says ‘Come, let us rebuild’.

And the people say ‘Let us start rebuilding.’

So they began this good work.  Nehemiah 2:18

All good so far. Nehemiah has a vision. Everyone is up for it. The work begins. And then the negative voices start.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”  Nehemiah 2:19-20

They mock.

They ridicule.

They undermine.

They question.

They sow the seeds of doubt.

‘Who do you think you are?’

‘You can’t possibly make this work.’

‘God wouldn’t choose you for this.’

‘Surely this is too much for you to take on.’

‘I know you mean well, but this is clearly out of your league.’

‘Maybe you should leave it to the people who know what they’re doing.’

I’ve talked about this before, I know. The confidence to start. The courage to take on something new. If you’re interested in looking into this further, just write confidence  in the search box at the top LH side of the Join Our Journey homepage or follow this link.

We all know all about the voices. The voices of other people and the voices in our head. The voices that stop us in our tracks, undermine our confidence, drain the joy out of any task.

We fear above all being mocked and ridiculed. Therefore we don’t even give it a go.

I remember how Lorna and I felt before our first contemporary dance class. We were both terrified. Literally shaking. We couldn’t even believe we’d made it through the door into Dance City. We felt like fools. We felt like everyone else in the class would be looking at us and laughing at us. We felt like all our friends thought we were complete nutters. We both looked at each other and thought yes, maybe we had gone a bit too far this time. And yet we came out of the class walking on air. Yes, we probably did look ridiculous and yes, everyone in the class had every reason to laugh at us. But they didn’t. They seemed to accept that we were there. The teacher seemed pleased that we were there. It’s been quite a journey. A real journey of self discovery into understanding where our own confidence lies. Because sometimes you don’t have to be good at something. We’re clearly not good at it. Sometimes it’s just about turning up and giving it your best shot and finding acceptance in that.

Leaving your comfort zone can be truly exhilarating. Give it a go!

What I want to focus on today however is how we affect other people by being a voice in their life. What kind of voice are you? Do you build other people up and encourage them or are you quick to drag them down with a snide comment or a roll of the eyes or by talking about them to other people? Maybe you feel threatened when one of your friends takes on something new? You look for them to fail. you undermine their confidence. You encourage them to play it safe. What kind of friend does that make you? What about when one of your work colleagues has a good idea – do you get behind them and support them or do you join in reluctantly because it wasn’t your idea?

I never want to be known as a critic. I never want people to be afraid to tell me about their latest idea or project because they’re afraid I’ll laugh and mock.

I want to be known as an encourager. I want to encourage everyone around me to have a go. To take risks. To try something new. To voice their dreams and follow them.

I want to be known as a facilitator. Someone who supports and helps other people to achieve their goals.

I want to be known as a motivator. I want to help people discover their own inner strength and determination.

And then maybe, as we create an environment around us where people feel the freedom to take the leap, to have a go….the freedom to try and to fail maybe……the freedom to reach for the stars……., we will silence the voices inside our own head, the voices that hold us back and prevent us from living life to the full.

I would encourage you to try something new. To stop out of your comfort zone. To be prepared to be surprised, to hate it or love it, to succeed or fail, it doesn’t really matter. It’s all about confidence and trust and acceptance in others and in yourself.

And in God. I haven’t mentioned God yet. Because surely we need to be sure whether something is a good idea or a God idea first, don’t we? Nehemiah was sure – ‘The God of heaven will give us success’. Sometimes yes, we’re sure. We know with absolute certainty. We’ve never been more sure about anything in our life. We felt like that about moving into this house. But sometimes, it doesn’t seem that clear, does it? Sometimes starting the work is the way of finding out. Being open to something working out or not, failing or succeeding, petering out into nothing is the way to find out. I personally think that’s OK. I personally don’t get hung up on whether something is a ‘God’ idea or not. I have a lot of ideas and hold loosely to all of them – I give some a go and God can show me which ones to run with…….

Like with this blog. It seemed like a good idea. It was an idea that kept resurfacing, that wouldn’t go away. Five and a half years of reading and writing about the Bible was a massive commitment to take on, but I’m OK with commitment. And really, it was definitely a good idea – how could reading the whole Bible be anything but a good idea? But it has taken a lot of perseverance and determination and sometimes I have wondered……and then God has sent some sort of encouragement to me, by someone sending me a message or telling me how reading the blog is helping them. I find those comments really moving and humbling. They give me the motivation to carry on. On the other hand, yes, I’ve had my critics – and some of them have been outside of my head too! People think I’m crazy. And when I think I’m only 16 months in to a target of 66, then I think I’m crazy too!

So……if we want the people around us to live their lives to the full, we have to be proactive. We have to keep our undermining comments to ourselves. We have to reject mocking and teasing resolutely and absolutely. We have to look for ways to praise and encourage and show an interest and support.

This girl can!

Go for it!

Just do it!