{"id":15571,"date":"2006-09-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-09-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2006\/09\/11\/to-shine-and-rave\/"},"modified":"2006-09-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-09-11T00:00:00","slug":"to-shine-and-rave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/to-shine-and-rave\/","title":{"rendered":"To Shine and Rave"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Our deepest fear<\/em> is not that we are inadequate.\nOur deepest fear<\/em> is that we are powerful beyond measure.\nIt is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.\nWe ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,\ngorgeous, talented, fabulous?\nActually, who are you not to be?\nYou are a child of God.\nYour playing small does not serve the world.\nThere is nothing enlightened about shrinking\nso that other people won’t feel insecure around you.\nWe are all meant to shine, as children do.\nWe were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.\nIt is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.\nAnd as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously\ngive other people permission to do the same.\nAs we are liberated from our own fear,\nour presence automatically liberates others.”\n—Marianne Williamson, Return to Love<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>

T<\/strong>he quote above reminds us that we really do matter, and being our best gives glory to God.I first heard this when it was quoted in the wonderful film Akeelah and the Bee<\/em>. If you didn’t catch this movie a few months ago in theaters, it’s now out in DVD. <\/p>

Here’s a great team building exercise: rent the movie, provide some hospitality to those you serve beside, and have them over to watch it with you.<\/p>

It may not sound that fascinating—it’s about, well, the national spelling bee. When I took my 12-year-old and her girlfriends to see it in the theater, they were like, “Mrs. Kent, we’re seeing a movie about spelling<\/em>? Umm, really?” But after the movie, all of us were raving about it.<\/p>

It’s actually a story about how your life can change when you believe in yourself, and when other people believe in you, too. It’s about how a caring teacher can change a life—which I hope will inspire and encourage all of you. What you are doing really does matter, so let your light shine!<\/p>

Copyright © 2006 Promiseland.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[2193],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[142],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3569,3613,3641,3648,3862,3960,4352,4498],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-15571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-keri-wyatt-kent","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-church-leadership","tax_ctp_tags-communication","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-encouragement","tax_ctp_tags-family","tax_ctp_tags-leadership-development","tax_ctp_tags-motivation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nTo 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