Brave Enough To Be Bliss

If you promise me that you are going to stretch, to step outside your comfort zone, I cannot predict your future. The sky is the limit.”

I can assure you that standing here before you tonight delivering a devotional is not something that is in my comfort zone. I can talk to you about market share and perception studies and communications, but sharing a personal message of faith is something that is a huge challenge for me. However, it’s also a huge challenge for me to say no, so I guess that’s why I’m here. I want to tie a message about stepping outside our comfort zones in with a message about how looks can be deceiving. Last Friday, a dear friend who I’ve known since junior high wanted to go to the Plaza shopping. So, our families met and while we were shopping, she asked me about going to our 20 th high school reunion next spring. I haven’t been to any high school reunion and about 10 years ago, I promised her that I would go to our 20 th, and she hasn’t let me forget it. It seemed like such a long time off when I made that promise. It made me start thinking back to the years that I lived there. When I was 12 years old, my parents divorced, and my mother and I moved to a new town. While my mother physically lived in the house with me after that, I was really alone. I had an older sister who lived elsewhere, but she was going through a rough time and I saw how hard it was on my mother who had her own issues to deal with like getting a job, figuring out how we would live on literally the $10 that was left for the month, and she appeared to have an eating disorder so I worried about her health. I decided then that I would make sure I didn’t cause any trouble, and I would keep quiet and not complain about anything. And I did just that. I got good grades and was on the honor roll, played sports, was in National Honor Society, president of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and on our Student Council, I was part of the “popular” crowd, but didn’t date much so my mom didn’t even have to worry about that. I certainly wasn’t perfect, but to everyone who knew me, it seemed that everything was really good. Unfortunately, that isn’t how I felt on the inside. I was very alone, very sad and was very confused about my future and life in general. My looks were very deceiving to everyone in my life. There was one particular night where I had reached a very low poi nt and really questioned if anyone would notice or even care if I weren’t there the next day. And I don’t know for sure if I went to sleep or not, but all I remember is that I was laying on my side and that I felt someone sitting on the bed behind me. I wa sn’t startled, but instead felt an overwhelming sensation of peace and comfort. The next morning when I woke up and later that day when my mom came home, I remember asking her if she had come home the night before at all and maybe had come into my room. Of course, she hadn’t. But whether it was actually Jesus with me that night or even if I was only dreaming, it changed the course of my life.

I was reminded that I am never, ever alone. Even if I try to be good and quiet and not cause any trouble, God knows what I’m thinking and feeling. As I borrowed my way through college over the next four years, I spent a lot of time reading the Bible and I bought this little piece and it says, “What you are is God’s gift to you. What you make of yourself is your gift to God.” And I began to live my life with the knowledge that it was a gift not to be squandered or taken for granted, but to be used in a way that was truly a gift back to God.

I share this story with you because I don’t know Vicki’s story or Bob’s story or Dick’s story…or the story of the many associates I pass in the halls…or the story of the physicians I meet with. I only know that when I reach out to another human being and give them a smile, a word of encouragement or go out of my way to offer help to them, I am truly giving a gift back to God. One never truly knows how big an impact you can make on another person and when your gesture might just be enough to remind that individual that they are not alone. Everyone in this room is in a position of influence. We are all different and our comfort zones are all different, but I would encourage you to step outside of yours. Going back to the reading that I opened with, “If you promise me that you are going to st retch, to step outside your comfort zone, I cannot predict your future. The sky is the limit.”

59