Wonder Woman Doesn’t Live Here: Guest Post by Dayle Rogers
I’m on vacation with my family this week—in beautiful Colorado mountains. I’ve asked some friends to fill in for me here at Kindling. I think you will find these posts very down-to-earth, but still quite able to start some fires in your heart and mind.
My friend Catherine is a multi-talented woman.She underscores her talent with a quick wit and a stunning sense of humor.
An enviable package.
Folks see Catherine as the total package. Whether she’s teaching, emceeing a seminar, engaging people in deep and humorous conversation or dealing with her three daughters and husband with compassion, honesty and fun, she appears as unruffled as a duck in the middle of a calm pond.
Minus the feathers.The fact that she wore a Wonder Woman costume to this year’s Independence Day parade could have given people the wrong impression.
She’s good. But Wonder Woman is a burden of a title.
Anytime you multiply the “multi’s” you’re going to present a picture that’s hard to sustain.
And yet, I find that I pursue this image.
Not intentionally. But passive-aggressively.
I think I’m trying to prove a point.Not that I’m all that. I know I’m not.
But there’s a part of me that wants to think I can do it all.
It’s a little of my Midwestern, tough work ethic, pull myself up by my bootstraps upbringing. A lot of expectations. Enough success to spur me on to expect even more of myself.And a lot of silliness.
Really? Me? Wonder Woman?
Much of this comes down to the fact that I care too much about what others think of me. Enough to allow them to think I’m better than I am.
I’m not very proud of that.
On my honest days, I recognize that I’m a broken, messy person. I’ve got great intentions and a limited ability to achieve those intentions.I still like to look like I’m achieving. Something.
This is the conundrum. I want to be real, genuine, honest. And I want to protect my reputation.I don’t think God cares a flying fig about my reputation.
His concern is for my character development and my relationship with Him. Not what others think of me. Not how the world perceives me.
I long to have that focus!
The apostle Paul struggled with similar issues. He’d been blessed with having seen the living Jesus. He’d seen amazing things in a vision God had given him. And it would have been so easy to be boastful. To think he was all that.
To help him avoid that pitfall, God graciously gave him a thorn in the flesh to help him focus on what was important.
Not on who he was or what he’d done.
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, SO THAT CHRIST’S POWER MAY REST ON ME.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)
I’m not looking for those thorns. Truthfully I’d like to avoid them.
But I understand that God needs to help me focus on what’s truly important. And if it means admitting and owning my weaknesses, privately and publicly, then I’ll do it. Gladly.
No Wonder Woman here. Just a woman filled with wonder at how well God loves me.
What about you? How are you revealing the real you?
*Picture of Wonder Woman courtesy of collider.com.
About Dayle: Wife of John, mother of 6, grandmother of 4, listener to many, encourager to all, staff member of Cru, writer, speaker—and filled with joy and laughter and wisdom! She blogs at Tip of the Iceberg and you can friend her on Facebook.