Are you trying to please everyone?

Recently i was talking to a secondary four girl on the phone, and she was confiding in me how upset she was because her class monitor slammed her art design for the class tee.

It was a totally unappreciative moment for her, because she had held high hopes about her design, since a bunch of her classmates found it really nice.

i empathised with her a lot, especially that little innocent 'designer's ego' (having been dealing a lot with art and design since my primary days). 'How dare you criticise my design' is the silent and usually harmless voice within us at such moments. Ha.

But come on, you do not have to be a designer/artist in order to feel this crunch. I dare to say that almost every of us has felt unappreciated by others before, including me of course. Because of varying preferences, insensitivity, or even deliberate grudges, we do not "encourage one another and build each other up" (1 Thessalonians 5:11a) the way God wants us all to.

(drawing above done by me in secondary days, which never won any award but which i truly like!:P)

Sometimes it could be because we seek man's approval too much, such that when we do not get it we felt rejected and dejected. I would like to encourage every of you that we seriously do not have to base our identities and successes on the approval of man, because we can never please everyone. As much as we long for others' approval, we will find that we have no control at all over how they want to react to us.

The Bible is even sharper in saying "Stop putting your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. How can they be of help to anyone?" (Isaiah 22:2) (with reference to Psalm 39:5b which says "each man's life is but a breath").

God is not asking us to not trust anybody. He is saying 'Don't lead your life based on people's opinions'. Be confident! Put in your best in what you do, and be proud of it. If it is truly not up to standard yet, humbly try harder without deflating your own esteem. Even when i knew my architectural project was not an A-grade, i presented my scheme and design to the critique panel with pride in my work, and then unassumingly listened to their suggestions for improvement. And walaa, i gained great insight for that day!


i told my girl on the phone about all these, and ended with a "Jia you! (mandarin for 'keep trying') Don't give up!". Well i really believe in her! *winks*

(another of my personal favs hanging on my bedside wall) =)