My husband
and I moved from the South Carolina upstate to Walterboro almost eighteen years
ago. It was my husband’s job that brought us here; that and the call of God on
our lives. I left behind a career and came here with no job. No friends. No
family. And really, no idea.
During the first
five years here, I had difficulty finding my lowcountry self and where I fit
in. I made the rounds in volunteer
positions at church. I looked for employment. At one of those early job
interviews, I walked into a room where a committee of five or six people sat in
a semi-circle facing one lone, empty chair. Before I ever even sat down in that
chair, one of the committee members said, “Well, if you’re from Walterboro how
come I don’t know who you are?” Immediately, I knew the interview was over
before it even started. To be from somewhere else and not be known is one
thing, but to be from here and not be known was a travesty to them. Needless to
say, I didn’t get the job.
I was trying
to find myself and my place here and all I really found was failure and
disappointment. That is, until I finally figured out that finding myself wasn’t
really what I needed. Instead, I needed to be losing myself. I needed to get
busy doing something for someone else rather than focusing on myself.
Since then I’ve done a lot of pro bono work
for several individuals and business organizations throughout the community. I’ve
done some graphic design work. I’ve written a few things. And you know what
happens when you’re willing to do something just because someone else needs you
to? You sit at your computer working on it and before you realize it, hours
have passed. You lose yourself.
The apostle
Paul had that figured out. He learned it from Jesus and talks about it in
Chapter 2 of Ephesians: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or
vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests
of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God did
not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather,
he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of
a servant, being made in human likeness.”
A few verses
later, Paul talks about the results of Jesus doing just that. His name was made
greater than every other name, so much so that all the knees in heaven and
earth will be bent in reverence. Jesus lost himself in his work for others and
the result is that every single soul not only will know his name but will also
worship it. In the gospel of John, the name Jesus is identified by is I
AM. He says of himself, “I AM the bread
of life.” “I AM the light of the world.” “I AM the way, the truth, and the
life.” John also describes Jesus as THE WORD.
I’m sitting
at my computer typing this and when I finish, I will email it to the editor. I don’t
usually have a need to visit the Press and Standard office in person. Last week,
however, I went there to tend to some business that had absolutely nothing to
do with this column. I walked in and introduced myself to the employee at the
front desk and explained my reason for being there. While I was standing at the
front counter, the sound of a booming bass voice came from further back in the
office. It was Drew Tripp and he asked me if I was the same Nancy Davis that
had written the recent columns for the Faith page. I confirmed that I was and
he asked me for a minute of my time. Apparently there had been some in-house discussion
there about what the tag should be at the end of my column; the info about who
I am and how I can be contacted. I don’t think I had ever met Drew in person before,
nor Brantley Strickland either. I have seen their names and pictures in the
paper and I follow them on social media, but we’ve never been formally
introduced. They don’t really know me and therefore weren’t sure about what to
say about me.
This was originally posted September 21, 2014 on The Press and Standard's website:
www.colletontoday.com
