Why stress over the presentation?

It’s Marigold season. You can see them everywhere, gardens, parks and the markets are full of them.

Marigold Fields

Long ago, we had Marigold flowers growing in our garden during the monsoon. As far as I know, we never sowed Marigold seeds, they grew on their own, blooming effortlessly. Rich, vivid hues of bold orange and bright yellow.

How is it possible for such beautiful flowers to grow and bud with such ease?

Kudos to the Creator!

When I see flowers the words of Jesus come to mind – ‘Look at the flowers!’, and the thought is accompanied by a message that reminds me, ‘don’t worry’.

This time, however, I felt that the Lord was trying to convey something more intense, a probing question that said, ‘why do you stress so much over the presentation?’

The word presentation by itself can be a wider, more comprehensive subject. It can connect to presenting products, services, presenting a vision or it could even mean presenting yourself in a more appealing way in public. Social acceptance of course!

The beauty and cosmetics industry has been rapidly expanding. Personal care is gaining prominence among men and women. Clothing. Style. Fashion. Makeup. Brands. Weight loss. Fitness. Overweight, Skinny, the list of descriptions and concerns about how to present ourselves keeps getting longer.

There was a time when I attended Bible college, held in batches with groups of students placed together. I noticed that there were times when some students discontinued the course, and I could see a noticeable difference between the ones who continued and the ones who stopped.

Spending time learning the Word of God, daily praise and worship, surrendering ourselves to Jesus, hearing powerful testimonies, intense prayers, daily devotions, all of this led to an improvement in inner strength, self-confidence, hope for the future, greater trust in God and so much more. Faith levels went high, and a warm, peaceful glow appeared on every face.

It was an inside out change.

Let me briefly share a testimony I heard that stuck in my mind of an entrepreneur who had to travel to another country to share a business proposal through a presentation with a potential client. He had invested much time and attention preparing the presentation for the scheduled date.

He said, the night before he needed to share the presentation, he sat down to pray in the hotel room. During prayer, the Lord began to reveal new ideas and strategies to include in the PowerPoint presentation which he had already completed and finalised.

However, he listened to the voice of God and revised the presentation, deleting most of the previous presentation content. Finally, when the ppt was presented to the decision makers, they responded that it was exactly what they were looking for, and he won the contract with that company.

This story brought two things to mind, first, the  Lord cares about our Presentation and, two, he can give great ideas to present ourselves, our business plans, our services and products, our vision etc much more powerfully and so much better than we can do by ourselves!

In Mathew chapter 6, through just a few simple words, Jesus drew an extreme comparison between something as simple as flowers and something as expansive  as the richness and splendour of King Solomon.

‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?’

Certainly, sounds like a promise from Jesus to anyone who can put their trust in the great teacher.

Here’s my personal interpretation of the above verse, ‘I flaunted these flowers in a way that is so much better than what I did with King Solomon. Flowers wither in no time. But you have been placed on Earth for a more lasting, impactful purpose. That is what makes you more precious. And that is why you can count on me to present you in ways that are always a cut above.’

I certainly hope this promise from Jesus resonates with you as well as it did with me.

Greetings, much Love and blessings to each of you reading this.

Sophia

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