The other day I sat in a room for one hour with two women who I deeply admire and respect. And who sometimes intimidate me with their brilliance. Ahh, self-doubt, lack of confidence and fear are fun for a recovering perfectionist.
But these women are smart, they know things of faith that I’ve never experienced, they can put things into language that would take me an hour to figure out. And it would have been so easy to listen to the voices in my head that would tell me,
“Who do you think you are?”
“You’re not enough.”
“You’re not qualified enough to be their pastor and leader.”
And for a couple minutes, I listened to those voices and I believed them.
But around the moment that one woman was drawing out a theological concept on the board for the other woman, I realized the conversation in my head was stupid and untrue and silly. What if I look at them as God sees them?
Then I was overwhelmed with a thankfulness that I get to work with people like this. The kingdom of God is being welcomed in this place because these two women are on our team. I get to sit at their feet and learn from them. And they might pick up some insight and experience from me along the way. That’s the body of Christ. There’s no competition. There’s no rank. We’re in this together.
Whenever I let go of any desire to be the smartest person in the room, or the most spiritual, or the expert, it always gets better. Always.
By the way, the two women? One is my outgoing Director of Family Ministries who’s off to Portland to serve her first church as a lead pastor this summer. The other woman is our new Director of Family Ministries. I cannot believe the people God is allowing me to serve with. Incredible talent and open spirits. Here we go!
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