The Audience of One
April 20, 2015
Every one of us experiences something we could call “the grandstand affect.” From a very young age, we have people watching us and responding to our choices and actions. If we do something that people like, they cheer us on. If we do something that people dislike, they frown at us or they may even boo us.
Over time, we can easily learn to play to the grandstand. We thrive on the applause so we seek to please people. We hate disapproval, so we try not to disappoint anybody.
The danger with this is that we can become addicted to the approval of others. Then when we need to make a choice that others may not approve of, we have no courage to do what we know is right.
Maturity requires us to gradually empty our grandstand. Parents, teachers, and other leaders are important people in our life and it is good to have them on the field as coaches and advisors … but we must not live for their approval.
The only person we want to leave in our grandstand is God. Live your life for the audience of One.
Think about it.
A lot of people ignore the aged in our society or pay them scant attention and little respect.
Yet one feature of many of them is that they have lost almost all their peers, siblings , spouse and mentors and others who were dear to them.
Most of them are well and truly living their lives only to an audience of One.
It is worth listening to them and learning what they have to teach us while we are privileged to have them with us. I remember reading that one of the famous Smith Wigglesworth's rare complaints to his daughter in his old age was that he was lonely- undoubtedly many looked up to him but apparently few visited.
Think about it!
Posted by: helen | October 05, 2011 at 10:07 PM