Making myself nothing to suit others is not humility; it’s ego and lack of trust. When I make myself small to “help” someone else feel like they are important what I’m really communicating is I think I’m too big for you to handle and you are too weak to see my greatness. Real relationships require real honesty. If I cannot allow myself to be fully me when we’re together, am I really allowing the other person to be all they can be? Of course not.
Making myself nothing is just another mask for fear. Fear is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real. What are we really afraid of when we do that? Rejection? Failure? Pride?
We get caught up in the lie that we are being too prideful if we boast (talk) about our accomplishments. Really? Isn’t playing small prideful as well? Yes, we can be very prideful in our ability to make ourselves small — I see it all the time in church. We get hung up on thinking that playing small pleases God. No it does not.
God did not create us to be small nor did He create us to fit in. We are created in HIS likeness in order to make a difference in this world. We cannot make a difference if we are playing down to nothing.
Making myself nothing so that other people can feel like everything is about manipulation and control. It’s about people pleasing and being liked.
Let go of the control.
Be who you were created to be and make a difference.
You can do it.
I believe in you.
Really lovely. When we look to Jesus we become more of a reflection of who He is and less of who we are or think we should be (to ourselves or to others)
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There are too many other people who try to make themselves look bigger by making you look smaller, so why must you do it to yourself? We should gracefully accept compliments and give glory to God for our gifts and talents. It doesn’t meant to take an ad out in the local paper bragging on ourselves….
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Very true – I’ll never forget the day my mother made me change clothes. I was wearing a dress to go to the movies. It wasn’t a fancy dress – it was probably the only dress I owned back then. She made me change it because the other girls might not own nice things and I’d make them look bad if I dressed up. — I learned how to play small at a very young age.
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