#3 The Hand

As I was watching Chicken Little, another thing struck me about our undersized protagonist: he has a ton of confidence. He is filled to the brim and overflowing with the belief that he’s worth something, and that he can get somewhere in this world. From standing up to a bully that’s twice his size, declaring she should “prepare to hurt;” to joining the baseball team, Chicken Little is going places. 

But what struck me the most is the setup for the main plot of the movie. After a brief introduction to his brutal downfall, Chicken Little still has the confidence to believe that all he needs is a chance. All he needs is one moment to prove all that he knows he’s worth. He simply needs a chance to reveal all that’s in him. 

Dang, that’s a lot of confidence. 

And I compared this to my own life. How often have I begged for a chance? How often have I truly believed that I have what it takes, and that I just need an opportunity to prove myself? Honestly, not that often. 

More often than not, I have been pushed out the door, jumping to the next safe little rock that I can safely land on. I have had people push me into bigger fields because I didn’t really think I would make it. Most of the time, I’m not Chicken Little. I’m little chicken. And I think many of us have been in this spot at least once in our lives. 

But I don’t want that to be a discouragement. If you are like me, struggling to believe that you actually have what it takes to make it in life, then reading the paragraph above might have made you feel even worse about yourself. Don’t go there. What I am actually trying to say is that we need to start with this belief, or lack thereof. Before we do anything big or try to take action, it’s important that we grow in the belief that we can, in fact, make it. If we don’t, the chances we are given start to slip through our fingers because we don’t have the hands to hold them.

You see, I believe that self-confidence is the hand that reaches for the chance. I have experienced in my own life what it’s like to take a chance without hope in yourself. The opportunity falls flat. At best, you are fighting against yourself to fill an unfillable hole. You operate from a place where you think you aren’t good enough. You tell yourself that you have to prove your worth, and that you have to do something big in order to be worth anything. And when you operate from that kind of mindset, it doesn’t ever go away. You don’t typically wind up proving yourself through your actions. Instead, your brain conveniently forgets all about your victories and continues to remind you of all the other things that you haven’t done. It’s a never-ending cycle where you could always be more, and nothing is ever enough.

And at worst you wind up giving up before you even start because you are so sure that things will end in disaster. Maybe you talk yourself into giving it a shot, but it barely goes anywhere because you are supposedly “so sure to fail.” You don’t follow up with that person that said “yes” to a first date because they will obviously hate you once they get to know you (assuming you asked them out at all.) You don’t even bother applying to that job because they will obviously hate your resume. And that cool person you’d really like to be friends with? Psh, forget it! You’re obviously not even nearly as cool as they are! They’ll obviously tell you to go away. 

And, spoiler alert, isn’t that ultimately the moral of the story? That our worth isn’t something that we have to earn? Isn’t that Mr. Little’s entire apology in the third act: 

“I love you, son. And I’m sorry if you ever felt like that love was something that you had to earn.”

It reminds me of something I heard about the story of Jesus (please don’t cite me with plagiarism, but I forget where I heard it.) One of the first stories you hear about adult-Jesus is the story of His baptism. In the book of Matthew, it’s the first time we hear about Him after the story of His birth. To keep a long story short, Jesus rolls up and gets baptized by His cousin. As He comes up out of the water, the clouds open up and a voice echoes from heaven. It’s God, and He says 

“This is my Son, and I am pleased in Him.” 

Normally, we think of saying “I am pleased” when something is done, but God says He is pleased with His son before His ministry begins. The point is to indicate that our worth comes from something other than what we do. That we are loved already before we get the party started. I don’t know about you, but I want that kind of worth. 

There’s so much I could try to write about finding your worth outside of what you do, but the point that I want to make is this: if you feel like you couldn’t make it, that you would blow it if you got your chance, hit the brakes instead of the gas. Don’t try to do more to prove yourself, do less to address those feelings of worthlessness. Then you won’t have to be forced into your chance, you will go hunting for it. And then you can attack that moment with pride, turning it into a home-run hit that brings you the victory, the triumph, the glory

and maybe even getting doused with a sticky, gooey sports drink that soaks into your undies and chafes for hours!

And, ultimately, your chance will become a memory that you will savor forever. So take some time to sit alone with yourself and reflect on how you feel about your chances in life. Try to work with that feeling that you’ll never make it. Try to rearrange your head so that you feel great about yourself. That all you need is a chance for the world to see what you’re made of. And that when that moment comes, that you’ll shine bright like the star that you wished on. 

I pray you begin your journey to regain your wholeness. That your light begins to shine bright like the star that you are. You’re made up of far more than you know, and that’s a fact!

Until next time

May Peace be your Guide.