Not for Credit

Another thing I learned about my self on tour is how much I do with the intent of impressing other people. I think we all do to some extent. But how many times do we do things, not out of the goodness of our hearts, but for the "she's so selfless" status.

When I finally started just doing things that I saw needed to be done it was frustrating. People don't spend nearly as much time looking at you as you'd think. Or would like. And it was a temptation every time to let people know what you'd done if they didn't seem to be catching onto your subtle glow of martyrdom. But that defeats the purpose.

Proverbs tells us to never let praise come out of your own lips -- and I'll hunt down the reference in a minute. And the New Testament (I'm not even going to guess at the book) says to 'do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.'

I had more failures than successes over Christmas. But I found those times that I did something and didn't allow myself the privledge of gloating over it afterwards built the most character.