You Are A Gift to All Creation

What it Means to Be No longer Common? Part 6

You Are A Gift to All Creation

You must learn to be you.
For almost 20 years, I tried to be someone else, my mentor, Pastor George Matthews and you know what,  I thought I had it down pat.  I was the best alternative, so I thought, to Pastor Matthews you could get.  I wanted a lifestyle like Him. I wanted a family like his. I even wanted to teach like him.  This is just a testimony to how great, how uncommon and unlike-anyone-else he is and he still remains one of my pastors today.  Sadly to say, and of no fault of his, it’s my greatest mistake in life and many had to suffer because of it.  I placed a mask over Kerry A. Clark for all those years; talk about a disrespectful statement to God.  I denied the world of what God wanted and gave Him more of what He already had.  I hid what God created because I thought being someone else was better than being me.  Let me encourage you, in God’s eyes there is none better than you.

Now the biggest mistake you can make is comparing yourself to someone else.  This isn’t a fair assessment.  It’s like comparing apples and oranges.

Our goal is to make it easy for you to be you.  Have you ever asked yourself…why is it so hard to be me?

We want to help you expose your uniqueness and maybe-just maybe-have an existence worth living. What will this require?

You must like being you.
The first step to becoming no-longer-common requires you to find a way to be like the person you see in the mirror.  Fall in love with who God sees.  Now ask yourself, like I did, what does He see?  He sees a wonderful masterpiece.  A unique gifted individual.  When you see something other than what God sees when you look at you, you’re common.  You’re normal. You’re just like everyone else.  If I were in your shoes, I’d start a list of the things I like about me and read them to myself daily.  I would never again allow anyone to downplay who I am.  And I would never again try to be something or someone that I am not.

You must help others in a way only you can.
The reason you don’t help others as often as you should is because you do it in ways that don’t work for you.  If you’re like me, there’s not enough money available to make the impact or difference I wish I could make.  Spending money and giving money has become the default way we impact others.  God didn’t create you just to give money, but rather to give of yourself.  The greatest giver in recorded history-Jesus- didn’t give money.  If you read His-story, you’ll find there were very few times the answers Jesus provided had to do with a monetary gift.  His gifts had more lasting impacts.  Giving money or things can be a substitute for the true gift that you can give and that’s you.  Be mindful that whatever you sow, give, you will reap, receive in return.  If all you want to receive are monetary gifts then give monetary gifts.  But if you want to make an impact on the world that will last forever, give all that you are.

You must know what you are?
“What” speaks to something you can do or accomplish. It’s what’s displayed on the outside?  Don’t let what you are, like your profession, cloud “who” you are.  I wish to encourage you to find only the skills that you’re good at doing. Put your life into doing what you’re good at doing. Stop wasting time like the majority of people on things that you’re okay at doing or the things others have convinced you to do.  Your gift, craft, talent and trade is too valuable to society to be wasted on doing the things that are not your gifting.  To be uncommon you will need to align with the person God made you to be.

You must know who you are?
“Who” speaks to the person you are when no one else is around.  What’s on the inside? If “what” you are speaks to the people around you, then “who” you are can only speak to you.  Not knowing “who” you are will leave you empty while others may seem fulfilled because of “what” you are.  This imbalance is what I’ve often call “masquerading”.  “Common” is the person who is an actor that never gets paid for acting.  Find out “who” you are and the world will become a better place because you’ll add one more extraordinary person.

In all honesty, it’s uncommon that the “who” and the “what” line up.  Since I teach the difference between what’s common and no-longer-common, I think we should try and align the two.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that aligning your “what” with your “who” will yield an uncommon outcome.  Today I want you to know that you are a gift that can give and keep giving.