by David Fawcett
Everyone loves recognition. I know I do.
A pat on the back. An encouraging word. A plaque honoring an achievement.
Those are all meaningful gestures that make you feel special and important.
But like anything in this world, the praise comes and goes just as quickly. How many people remember who won last year’s Academy Award for best picture or the Pulitzer Prize for best non-fiction book?
My guess is not many. Records, champions, awards and accomplishments are fleeting no matter how significant they are in the moment.
As I’ve grown deeper in my relationship with Jesus, I’ve taken that message more to heart.
On April 11 at our annual Virginia Press Association Awards Banquet, I did well, winning several awards with the help of others for my work as the sports editor for InsideNoVa/Prince William.
And then, much to my shock, I received the Best in Show Non-Daily Writing Award.
I won’t lie. That’s a big deal. It’s my work up against everyone else’s award-winning work for non-daily publications in Virginia. And someone thought it was the best of the whole group.
It was, no doubt, a moment to remember. But does it define who I am?
Early in my career, I thought so. Winning awards was all that mattered. It became my identity to the point I equated self-worth with a victory or a loss. If I did well, I was a success. If I didn’t, I was a failure. With the same mindset, I also compared myself to others, another dangerous trap.
I learned over time to rebuke those lies, but the temptation to embrace them remains a constant battle.
Even at the awards banquet, I felt the judgmental spirit rise forth at times with these all-too-familiar words: Really, that won instead of my entry? Or when my insecurities briefly surface with this question: Why didn’t more people congratulate me?
But then God’s word speaks to me loud and clear and silences my inner struggle.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”—Colossians 3:23
The question then is this: Who do I write for and why? Is it for my own ego or for God?
In the eyes of God, I am still valuable whether I receive a plaque or not. And once I stopped making everything about me, my writing ability not only improved, but doors opened to the type of stories God wanted me to do.
I am the still same person on the outside when I go to the VPA awards banquet now, but a totally changed person on the inside. I stopped striving and started serving. And it’s made all the difference.