A Lesson in Humility

If someone says that I am ugly in one of those Facebook applications, should I take it seriously? Honestly, I am slightly offended (and I made it publicly known by updating my Facebook status). I was tempted to outright confront that person who said that, but I'm trying hard to control myself right now.

Just a couple of hours ago I was thinking on something similar but in a different situation. I was thinking about the topic on Spiritual Gifts.

You know what, I love to sing. I performed solo during kindergarten year, joined the school choir teams throughout my primary and secondary school years, participated in Christmas carolling and choir presentation, and even sang a Russian duet during an International Night performance in uni. Nobody has ever said that I couldn't sing, until recently I received an uninvited comment that I am tone-deaf. My initial reaction was a mixture of shock and offended, but I controlled. Since then, I kept asking myself: Can I sing? If I sound so horrible, should I sing loudly in church during praise and worship? Is the person standing in front of me who's laughing away, is he laughing at my singing? Am I spoiling the beautiful voices of others when I sing off-tune?

I like to teach. That explains why I'm doing what I'm doing now. But once in a while I received comments that discouraged me from being positive in what I like to do. My voice is too soft, I'm boring, I'm lack of PR skills... all these are part and parcel of teaching, but qualities which I'm apparent lacking of. So what do I do? I can blame it on the society and MTV. But when students are distracted, not motivated, do not perform well, is it because of my inadequate skills? When there's a complaint going around about an anonymous lecturer, is it actually me?

I'd like to sing in my service to God. I'd like to teach (or lead or anything similar) in my service to God. I'd like to do something for God. And if the things which I'd like to do, is not what I'm supposedly good at, should I continue doing it? I told myself, God doesn't look at whether I'm good at it or not; God looks at my intention to serve.

Now, if there's an area in service to God which needs someone to take care of, and I happen to enjoy doing that, but I may not have the adequate skills to do it well, should I do it?

Why am I writing this post? I'm not writing out of anger. I'm not writing out of frustration. I'm not writing out of bitterness. I just want to ask something which I thought of, and to remind myself that everyone deserves a chance. I am equally guilty of denying more than one person the chance of proving themselves, the chance for them to do and even excel what they really like. All in the name that "I know better." Pheeee. I don't know any better than anyone else. I guess I really need to learn humility.