Finding Your Voice

Mr. Special on AGT/NBC

Why We Need People

Last night, as I watched America’s Got Talent on NBC, I was saddened by something most people laughed at. 

Mr. Special. 

This 50-something man, dressed like an Angry Bird ™ gave a poor performance and a lackluster audition. He obviously was not going to make it through to the next round. 

The thing that saddened me was not his talent (or lack of) but his heart. He stood there in front of the audience and judges, with his heart on his sleeve, screaming to be heard. 

“I need to be heard, I need to be heard!” he barked into the microphone over and over. 

We all need to be heard, don’t we? 

That is why we need people. 

The Importance of a Voice

I am a loud person. My friends all know it and expect it. My family is used to it, but the public is unprepared for the volume of my laugh. If you need me to whisper, you better not be asking for a secret because everyone will hear me. 

At church one time, after a particularly funny delivery of the message, a new member of the church came up to me after the service and asked me how much I got paid to be the laugh track for the pastor? 

Ouch. 

I have tried to pull back the volume, but never the joy that bubbles up. Why? 

Because that is my voice: it is who I am. 

Stop Trying to be Heard and Just Serve

We all need people, we all want to be heard, but this life is not about you. It isn’t about me. It is about other people. 

When we lay our lives and our egos aside, real love happens. 

You know that kind of love that doesn’t boast, or crowd others? The love that lifts others up, and is always kind; you know, THAT love? 

I Corinthians 13 says this:

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Real love serves others because that is what Christ showed us by his example. He loved and he served. 

A quiet man from a backwater town, with hardly anything to call his own on this earth, Jesus served and loved others and his voice; his words are still being heard today. 

Be Iron

We are meant to be the light of the world. Drawing people to us not just by our words, but by the warmth and authenticity of our love we serve with purpose: to win the lost. 

In the middle of all that serving is when we emerge as who we were designed to be. Serving is work, but as we get busy helping others, they are helping us. 

The bible says iron sharpens iron. 

 Like taking steel wool to a blade, with careful, deliberate application, it sharpens the blade, removing the rust, and buffing it to a high shine. 

Serving people comes down to one thing: relationship. 

Start where you are, with those people around you that you are closest to. Serve them. Love them. 

Then you will notice, that somehow, without you realizing it, people are noticing, they are seeing the changes that are happening in you and they are listening to what you have to say. 

Call it serving, favors, love, or work, if it is done with a cheerful heart, it can change the world! 

How can you serve someone today?