When I was 10 or 11, I participated in a city-wide championship spelling bee. The “bee” contestants were all “winners” from their schools or school districts and it’s been quite a long time, but I think there were probably 100 or so of us in the competition. That’s the truth of the story. I spelled a bunch of hard words in a row and got to go to the big meet. (Once a word-nerd, always a word-nerd.)

Now for the humility footnote: I missed my very first word – and it was only five letters long. I could have spelled “xylophone” or “prestidigitator” – but they didn’t ask me those words. They asked me to spell “easel.” And I did: e-a-s-l-e. At the time I was also taking art lessons and painting on an e-a-s-e-l once a week. The judge leaned into the microphone, said “that is incorrect,” and I went to my seat duly embarrassed. Five letters.

I’d mostly forgotten about my spelling bee failure until a movie recently came out called “Akeelah and the Bee.” (If you’ve been to Starbucks lately, you’ve no doubt heard of it.) Akeelah was something of a word-nerd, too – though a much better speller than me. But she almost didn’t compete because she was afraid of being “different.” Of being really “good” at something and standing out.

In the kind of synergistic moment that I love, an editor mentioned “Akeelah” to me last week, and reminded me of a quote from the movie. Nelson Mandela first said it, and Akeelah’s spelling coach shared it with her. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond belief…You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. You were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within you. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.”

Her coach was asking Akeelah to shine. But not for her own glory. For God’s. She didn’t make her gift – God did. And by using it, she made His glory more evident.

I’m a little shy. Maybe you are, too. I don’t like to do things that call too much attention to me. I don’t want anyone to examine me too closely. I know it’s only a matter of time before I’ll miss a five-letter word. But even so, God has placed His Spirit within me, and He asks me to shine. Not for my glory. For His.

I don’t know what crazy kind of light He’s put in you. But you do. Isn’t it about time you decided to shine?

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck measure, but on the lamp stand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16, NASB)

© Leigh McLeroy, 2006