One Shining Moment

 “The ball is tipped, and there you are. You’re running for your life. You’re a shooting star.”  This line gets sung by every college basketball player during the tournament. All of them hoping to win a championship, but all of them desiring that one shining moment that they get to be in the spotlight for that montage of great plays at the end of the tournament.

For some, like the players at Grand Canyon University, they know they will not play professional basketball. For others, they hope that their shining moment will propel them into the professional league. Whatever it is, it’s good to recognize our shining moments.

Throughout my life, people have noticed and pointed out my flaws. I have many of them. I know that. Many times, including Christians, people do not recognize our shining moments. Since other people don’t recognize them, we think that they don’t exist or that we just need to humble ourselves and sweep our shining moments under the rug, but that’s not letting our light shine.

Our shining moments reveal the use of our gifts and talents that God has given us. We can be humble and still acknowledge our shining moments. If we don’t recognize our shining moments, we then struggle to repeat them, and they need repeating because people need the light of Jesus.

So, how do we acknowledge our shining moments and remain humble? I wish I had put this into practice better than I do, but I have seen this set as an example, and it has a unique beauty. My professors at my colleges that saw my abilities had that unique way of letting their light shine without bragging. They accepted praise and didn’t apologize for it. They continued to grow and move forward.

 Moving forward disables bragging and acknowledges what you have done well. When you stay stuck, you just want to repeat the shining moment and live in that moment forever, but you can’t. You must move to the next level.

Society will try to silence you. They get on social media and tell you to be quiet and let others, who have not helped anyone, shine. They claim that you speak too much. They don’t want you to be successful in your talents and gifts because they are filled with envy. If we don’t share our light, then we become greedy. Greed and envy will destroy any society.

If we don’t share our light, which consists of our gifts and talents, then we hoard the love of Jesus and have become greedy with our faith. Just because some people in society want to silence others doesn’t mean Christianity is under attack. It means we allow other people to monitor and control what we do. We cannot hide.

We don’t have to stand on the street corner and scream at people. We just need to use the gifts and talents that God has given us to bring someone into the presence of Jesus. The more we use those gifts and talent, the more people see Jesus.

Our talents could be baking for others, painting, creating homemade cards, singing, balancing budgets for individuals or churches or other groups that desperately need a balanced budget. We can write, meet with others, and empower them with our encouraging words. We can read and research the truth. We can have conversations instead of trying to prove to everyone how right we are. Whatever we do, we can use our strengths to bring glory to God.

So, this week, find your shining moment. Document it. Share it with a friend or family member. Let it be in the montage of your memory. In the end, you will be able to sing. “And when it’s done, win or lose, you always did your best because inside you knew that One Shining Moment you reached deep inside. One shining moment, you knew you were alive.”