Everyone's brilliance

SO, my friend Susan Isaacs has a book coming out in March. I am hoping to get a review copy and tell you all about it (there is an outside chance I will get an extra to give away in a blog contest – we’ll see). The book is called, “Angry Conversations With God” and, being prophetic, I have no doubt it is awesome. Susan is very gifted.

She is also generous. Susan has proved a great encouragement to me and I thought I would share something I learned from her.

After we were first connected, (through our mutual and beautiful friend Meredith) Susan did not hesitate to help me. She was several steps ahead of me in the book process, and she gave me names, warnings, and pep talks. Publishing is a very competitive business, with limited work being printed each year. Without reluctance, she emailed a copy of her book proposal to me so that I could get a feel for what was expected and she sent me a funny message asking if I would do a book tour with her after reading a sample from my website. She is an actor, I am a former one, so a combined book tour is probably a dangerous and high-strung idea, but I loved her for suggesting it, no matter how tongue-in-cheek it was.

One day, after she blessed me with more encouragement, I sent her a message thanking her for being so perfectly wonderful. She replied with the most interesting sentence. She said, “I have come to realize that there is room in the world for everyone’s brilliance.”

WOW.

I have let those words ring in my head ever since. Being the kind of person that refuses to be threatened by other people’s gifts is an extraordinary thing. No need to find fault, no need to compete, no need to compare – just the ability to be so helpful and vulnerable that you risk the possibility of being surpassed. True joy when someone else wins. It’s the stuff of God.

Not that Susan had to worry. She is now WAY ahead of me. I am never tempted to feel jealous or withholding, however, because the woman out in front taught me that her brilliance is valuable and needed. And so is mine.

Thanks, Susan. I will tell everyone to buy your book, my friend. Hooray for you!