How Do You Use Awards to Define Yourself?
@bethvogt
The first award I ever won was for an elementary school spelling bee.
I remember standing in a line with my classmates against the chalkboard. Waiting my turn as the teacher called out different words. Silently spelling my classmates words. Concentrating, letter by letter, as I spelled the word I was given. Something like “butterfly.” B-u-t-t-e-r-f-l-y. Butterfly. Exhaling when I was correct, a warm thrill coursing through my body, surpassed only by ultimately winning the entire contest.
Here’s the thing about awards: Sometimes you win. Sometimes you don’t.
Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?
But it’s not.
Awards are tricksy.
My daughter just graduated from high school. The academic year ended with, what else? Awards. At every awards ceremony there are certain students who make repeated trips to the stage. And you have others who remain seated the entire time, their names never called.
And yet, they still graduate, right? Their futures are no less bright, no less promise-filled than the students who gathered a few extra honors on their way to walking across the stage and switching their tassels from one side of their caps to the other. Some people would say a high school diploma is an award. Think about it. Graduates are “awarded” those, right?
Right now it’s contest season for writers – when we find out if we finaled in an almost endless variety of contests for both pre-published and published writers. We submitted our manuscripts or books earlier in the year and now, we’re finding out if we made the cut to finalists on our way possibly winning awards.
It’s all part of the profession. Awards give us credibility with publishers and peers. For a few moments during the awards ceremony, we’re up on stage receiving a certificate or plaque or statue that confirms yes, we can do this – and do it well.
But again, awards are tricksy. Because sometimes you win. And sometimes you don’t.
We have to know how to handle both the winning and the not winning. We have to determine that who we are isn’t defined by either a win or a loss. Life is winning and losing and winning and losing, over and over again. We need to decide that who we are – come accolade or accusation – is anchored in Truth stronger than someone deciding by an arbitrary judge’s scoresheet whether we’ve won or lost.
If we win, we hold the joy loosely. We remember no award replaces the Truth that ultimately defines us.
If someone else wins, we celebrate them. (Celebrating someone else’s achievement is a great antidote to jealousy.) And we also remember someone’s else’s success doesn’t define us as a loser.
How Do We Navigate Between Winning and Losing? http://bit.ly/2KbkdSj #awards #perspective Click To Tweet 'A lot of times, we believe ... what our awards or accolades say about us instead of what God says about us.' Quote by @lecrea http://bit.ly/2KbkdSj #perspective #Truth Click To Tweet
This fun Moments We Forget Giveaway by Crazy4Fiction (Tyndale House Publishers), ends Thursday, May 30th.
The Moments We Forget Giveaway via @Crazy4Fiction ends Thursday, May 30! Enter for a chance to win two of my novels, Things I Never Told You and Moments We Forget, a Colorado mug and cozy, and other fun prizes! https://buff.ly/2HH4wAw… Click To Tweet
Comments 10
None of the awards I won
mean a damn right now.
Beneath a rising blood-red sun,
I ask not ‘why’, but ‘how’.
Today took everything I had
and tomorrow will be far worse.
Looking back on life I should be sad,
but reminiscing is a curse.
Today held triumph of its own
which defines the state of play.
With courage (surely that’s on loan!)
I’ll forget my yesterday.
What’s gone before is ghost-light here
where the moment, only now, is clear.
Author
Andrew: I know your perspective is unlike most others. I know you fight your way through each day, and you lean into Truth, pressed their by your circumstances. You’re in my prayers, friend.
Beth, thank you for this. You’ve brightened my day.
I really appreciate the prayers; things are bad, and I’m hurting, and I’m scared.
Author
Praying for you right now, Andrew. For strength and peace and less pain.
I feel the prayers, Beth. They bear me up, and give me the courage to go on.
No matter the outcome, winning is also knowing your inspired thoughts become carefully crafted words that root and flourish in readers’ hearts, bringing encouragement and life. That is real winning!
Author
Dee: I agree with you! When the words we write encourage others — minister to their hearts in some way — that is the best of awards. But our spoken words can be powerful, too. And our actions … lifes is filled with God-given moments of influence.
Thanks for this, Beth. When I think about my high school classmates (from 40-plus years ago!) the ones who would now be called the “notable achievers” were the same ones who remained seated through the awards ceremony, for the most part. Life is teaching me to take both my awards & accolades, and my rejections & criticisms, and either celebrate or grieve them for a day, then lay them at the feet of Jesus (who can appropriately handle both!)
Author
Good morning, Terrie: We view our high school classmates through our limited, inexperienced vision — the same way we view ourselves. By the time our class reunions roll around, our perspective changes (usually) and broadens, perhaps, becoming gentled with a bit more grace.
Such good words, Beth. It’s easy to let awards (or lack of) sway how we feel about our writing, our talents. But, awards don’t truly define us, and they don’t have the final say on our writing journeys.