Focus On Your Strengths

Recently, I have started playing ping pong again.  Growing up, My Dad, my brother and I used to play ping pong all of the time!  We would have tournaments at night before we went to bed.  All three of us are pretty competitive people and none of us like to lose.  Over time, we would constantly try to get better and exploit each others weaknesses.  My weakness was and is my backhand shot.

I would spend hours trying to work on my backhand.  I would spend so much time working on overcoming my weakness.  Overtime, my backhand got a little better but has never become great.

I remember one day my Dad said to me, “Stop working so hard on your weakness and start focusing on your strengths.”  Huh, it never even occurred to me to do that.  My strength is my serve and forehand spike.  I started to work on my serve and my forehand.  What I found was this:  if I could serve it really well people would be forced to hit the ball to my forehand.  My serve would tee up my forehand spike!  As I worked on my strengths I began to become a better ping pong player.

Why is it so easy to focus on our weaknesses and ignore our strengths?  It could be because people tend to always point out our weaknesses and ignore our strengths.  They tend to see that one bad grade on your report card, or that one day you got to work late, or the one time you lost your temper, or that one accident or speeding ticket on your record.

What if we decided that instead of spending all of our time trying to improve our weaknesses, we asked God to help us in the areas we were weak and we poured our effort into our strengths.

The apostle Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 12:9,  But God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Did he really say that he would boast gladly about his weaknesses?  That sounds like a crazy idea!  What if it were true?  What if we could give our weaknesses to God and rely on His power?  What if we focused our effort on our strengths?

Everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses.

My good friend Les Morrison recently said, “if you look for the bad in people you will find it every time.”

What if we started focusing on our strengths and the strengths of others around us?

Let me tell you what would happen.  Our self-confidence would grow!  Our self-esteem would grow!  Our self-image would be positive! You would be able to say “so long insecurity” and “Hey there self confidence”!

Here is the challenge:

Make a list of five of your strengths right now.  List one way you can work on each one of those strengths going forward.

Remember, your life is NOT small.  You have so much to offer when you focus on your strengths!

Chris Rea