Permission To ShineSample

When You Don’t Want To Shine

I remember watching the movie, Akeelah and the Bee, with some friends, and the quote by Marianne Williamson stood out...

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure...We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.“

If we break the statement down, it says God’s glory within us is light, and everyone has it. As we choose to operate with courage, we allow the light to shine. When we do this, other people notice and are strengthened enough to shine their lights also.

But what if you don’t WANT to shine? What if you want to blend into the background and be unnoticed? When you “shine,” it can be tiring. People expect you to fulfill specific responsibilities and then criticize you when you don’t. So, sometimes, you don’t want to deal with it. Instead, you want to hide or just “live life on your terms.”

I remember being in a meeting where it just felt like chaos. The person assigned to lead the session wasn’t there, and most of the people there didn’t know each other. There was talking, but no one knew the agenda. There was conversation, but it was undirected. We were wasting time, and everyone knew it. Yet no one was stepping up to lead the meeting. I’d conducted meetings before, so I could have stepped up. But, I didn’t know the people and felt out of my element. Until...someone turned to me and said, “can you help bring this together, please?”

Wait a minute...why me? Why did they turn to me? They didn’t even know me. Why did they choose to ask me?

I took a deep breath, sighed internally, and went up to the front of the room.

“OK, everyone. Let’s see if we can decide together how to make this time most productive.”

The meeting went smoothly, and we got out of there within the hour.

I didn’t want to shine, but my light was leaking. Sometimes, even when you don’t want to take on the mantle, it finds you.

“Thanks for stepping up and leading, Robert. We needed that. Maybe I can find the courage to lead the next one.”

A lady attending found me after to let me know I’d made a difference...even when I didn’t want to.