Momentum For Monday, December 12th 2022
“Hence we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?”’ (Hebrews 13:6)
Another concept that marked me this year was surrounding the idea of self-esteem. I heard it from one of my favorite podcasts earlier this year (hit me up if you want the podcast information). Two women were talking about raising kids and one of them mentioned something another friend had taught them.
The entire podcast didn't surround this topic, but the nugget of wisdom they gave was the biggest takeaway for me. In short, they mentioned how humans in general usually lack self-esteem. Still, the key to building self-esteem, you have to do "esteemable" things. As soon as I heard it, I had to rewind and repeat what they said because it provoked so much thought.
To them (the ones on the podcast), they used it in the context of raising kids. Basically, if you want to grow self-esteem in children, give them small things to be responsible for and slowly build upon those responsibilities. Start with small tasks and then gradually give them more over time
However, this idea is not just about raising kids. Grown adults struggle with self-esteem, heck, even I do. So when I heard this, it made me look at the areas of my life where I lacked confidence and asked myself if I was doing anything esteemable.
For me, as a Christian, I know I shouldn't lack confidence because my confidence is in Him, but it still happens. Things that used to require faith for me to do, are just discipline now. I've grown. Now, I have to find new things to stretch myself and my faith in Christ to keep maturing and building my confidence. As James said, "faith without works is dead." So, is your faith at work?
Let's bring this back to what I learned from this- I really lacked confidence in one of my biggest passions, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Holding a purple belt currently means that I've had some relative success in this martial art, but I still struggled. The kicker was, even in my lack, I had this desire to help people by teaching self-defense. Well, after hearing that podcast and praying, I sought to start teaching Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for self-defense. Currently, I'm doing a weekly class.
Something else that came about was an opportunity to publish another devotional. For many reasons I struggled with publishing it, from the finances to whether I felt it would be successful. After praying about it and getting some wise counsel, I’m excited to say it will be released coming soon in 2023.
As I'm doing all these things, I'm not feeling confident. But in the doing, I'm learning. That learning is slowly building my confidence, and not in myself, this is building my confidence in my relationship with God. He's helped in so many ways throughout these endeavors. Each step has made me trust him and who he is and who he’s made me to be (but I still have a long way to go).