The Right Person at the Table

Have you ever attended a group meeting where everyone involved had the best intentions, but you all quickly realized that your meeting was in vain because an important person was missing from the mix?  If the right people aren't at the table, you waste your time.  Sometimes you need the decision makers there, so you can act and move on.  Sometimes you need the person with the history and background knowledge to make everything make sense.  Other times you need someone with the technical expertise to help decipher new information.  Usually it is wise to have all of these people present to make sure that the full picture is in view.

I am in the middle of reading The Resolution for Women, by Priscilla Shirer.  In the third section of the book, she urges women to be "authentically themselves," not trying to be someone else and not shirking away from who they truly are.  One problem we run into, she says, is that many times we don't know ourselves very well, aka: we don't know what we bring to the table.  It is hard to be authentic when you don't know what makes you, you!  It could be that there is a meeting table right now that needs you and your unique gifts, talents and abilities.  That meeting table may be in your very own home.  My husband is very good at gently pointing out to me the areas of giftedness I have that I may be underestimating or devaluing within our family life.  He wants me to bring everything I have to the table of our family decision making so that we are not lacking in any way.  People at work expect the same, as do people on ministry teams.  

One of the strategies that Priscilla suggests in her book for figuring out what makes you, uniquely you, is to ask those who know you well for their insights.  She states, "It's often more difficult to see yourself as clearly as another person can who's close to you.  Beauty tends to become familiar.  Genius eventually feels commonplace.  You get used to yourself.  You overlook the astounding, remarkable aspects that make you uniquely special because you've grown so accustomed to having them.  Your rarity becomes unremarkable when its just another part of your regular routine."  So, I challenge you to ask those closest to you what they think makes you unique.  Then listen, and WRITE DOWN what they say.  Then pray over it and ask God to help you live it out.  The world needs you at the table!