Becoming Relevant

02 Nov Becoming Relevant

Last Friday I “almost” started a new thing called Five Minute Friday. I’d seen a few of these on other blogs. The blogger writes for five minutes straight on a given topic and then stops. That’s it. Blog post finished. Seems like a good way to fit another post into the week as well as some extra writing practice. So maybe I’ll do it this Friday. Last Friday however, the topic was “Relevant”. Mostly because half the female Christian bloggers in the world (or so it seemed) were ensconced in a utopia known as The Relevant Conference.
I, however, was sitting jealously at home.

I hadn’t previously thought much about it, but last month I discovered Relevant was here, in my state, just a three-hour drive from home. It was too late, though. The guest list was already full. There was no room at the Sheraton.

“Oh well,” I thought, “That’s okay anyway. I mean, I’m not a professional blogger or anything. I don’t devote the kind of time to this that better other women do. I’d probably feel out of place anyway.”

But then I made the mistake of looking at the agenda—and I wanted to go to so many of the workshops! I wanted to sit at the feet of Ann Voskamp and Tsh Oxenreider, even if I didn’t deserve to be there.

I’ve been on Twitter a lot lately, thanks to Hello Mornings . . . and some of the women from my group were attending Relevant. So last weekend, while authors of well-read and lucrative blogs were flocking to chocolate country, I was feeling a little irrelevant. Especially since the hashtag #Relevant11 was all over Twitter. But I know that feeling is not of God. I had to give myself a little pep talk. You see, God loves Ann Voskamp. God has a special calling for her. It may be dripping wisdom from her lips and fingertips and perhaps wafting it through her farmhouse . . .

But God loves Alison Treat, too. And that makes me relevant. I have a calling. There’s a special purpose for me that nobody else can fulfill. What is it? Well, it may not seem as important Ann’s or Tsh’s—I’m not nearly as influential. I don’t have a huge following. It may even sound like a cliche. But I’m the only one who gets to be Todd’s wife. And Camilla and Adrian only have one mom. No other woman has the privilege of tucking them into bed every night. Aside from that privilege, I am the single most influential woman in their young lives. I try so hard not to take that lightly.

As if that weren’t enough, God dropped an awesome plot for a historical novel into my head and heart years ago and I’ve been able to grow with it and become a better writer and maybe see it published before too many more years go by . . . Not to mention myriads of stories, articles, blog posts, poems, and other books in the works.

So I’m not as efficient as Tsh. Her list of things she doesn’t do makes me laugh! I am so far behind these giants according to some measuring sticks. Maybe even my own.

But not God’s. I’m not supposed to be those women. And neither are you. No one but you can do what God has called you to do. You are relevant.

So what’s your calling? Are you living it?