Friday, May 14, 2010

Inside the Head of a Speaker

Posted by Leona Bergstrom

OK, I get a little heady and feel important when I’m asked to be a keynote speaker at a gathering. It even seems more impressive when I am asked to travel halfway across the country. I pack my business suit, carry my computer bag and take off through the not-so-friendly airport and skies. Never mind that my all-travel-expenses-paid trip puts me in the most crowded part of the plane. I have purpose. People are coming to hear me speak words of utter inspiration.

So, imagine my chagrin when, after a sleepless night and the loss of three hours, I get up and look in the mirror to see an absolute disaster: me. Not only did I have bags, droops and excessive wrinkles – I had the longest hair ever to protrude from my nose. It hadn’t been there the day before, I am sure. Tweezers? Yep, I had them in my case but they no longer clamped tight because I had used them to tear the plastic off of my travel-sized mouthwash. So, I tried what anyone would do, use my nail clippers. Didn’t work. Finally, without going into details, I pulled that sucker out by the roots. A little moisturizer on my face and I’d be ready to go “knock ‘em dead.”

But then I discovered that I had packed the wrong black pants. Not hard to do, I suppose, since I have 13 pairs of them hanging in my closet – each one at a different level of disrepair. I had grabbed the ones with the buttons completely missing and a rather compromised zipper.

Well, eventually, with the help of the hotel sewing kit, I looked somewhat presentable and headed off to the seminar. Things went well after that – I even got technology to support rather than baffle me. But that little nose hair reminded me again that my focus is too often with “keeping up appearances.”  A few words with the Lord and I was reminded that these folks needed to hear from Him, not me. They needed His direction, not mine.

1 comment:

Julie said...

I truly laughed when I was reading this post, Leona.
Well written, and such a huge,great reminder!!! Thanks for the humor!!!