As I write this, I am returning
from a global conference on marine conservation in California, where I spoke on
three panels about my work in Virginia. Many colleagues who have PhDs and are
leaders in the field of marine conservation were also on these panels. It did
not take me long to start fretting that my contributions were trifling and
pedestrian compared to the innovative and dazzling work of my august and
ambitious peers. I felt like an imposter, on verge of full exposure and
expulsion from the club.
Moses also struggled with imposter syndrome. In the
Exodus reading for today, he desperately tries to convince God that he is
unworthy of his call, consumed by anxiety of public speaking and being perceived
as a fraud.
God will have none of it. God tells Moses to get over himself and his insecurities—as if to
say: “Moses, this is NOT about
you!” God does not call Moses to succeed
as a leader or public speaker, but rather, calls Moses to bear faithful witness
to God’s will. In fact, Moses never actually made it to the Promised Land; his
unwavering faithfulness along the epic journey is what made him the great
prophet of the Hebrew Bible.
Mother Teresa said, “We are not called to be
successful, but faithful.” How do we heed this call in a society that
obsessively worships the false gods of career achievements and success? Father
Gregory Boyle, S.J., said, “If you surrender your need for results and
outcomes, success becomes God’s business.” How true!
However, we can only
surrender if we truly believe that God adores and delights in our true selves
and that any—and all—gifts we have to offer are enough, without exception. The
call to faithfulness then is the call to freedom and authenticity where none
are imposters and all belong to the club called God’s Kingdom on Earth.
— Gwynn Crichton
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