Stepping Up to the Platform
It all began with a song. I remember it clear as day. Practicing “Greensleeves” for weeks on end, scrawling my name on the sign-up sheet with a shaky hand, summoning up the courage to even say the word...Audition. And that day, 3rd-period chorus, sitting on a hard card-table chair behind the stage curtain, awaiting my turn, willing myself not to run, it’s funny how those moments imprint us like fine creases in pressed white napkins. Stepping up to the big yellow sticky-taped “X” about killed me, but somehow the reality of the clunky piano set in and there was nothing left but to let go and sing. I don’t remember much about the performance; but I recall every detail of that stage, that platform marked with an “X”. It was a defining moment, a moment I summoned courage, a moment I surprised myself.
Since that 8th-grade moment I’ve stepped up onto a lot of platforms. Step up as the music starts. Step up as the emcee introduces you. Step up when the pastor prays. Stages and podiums seemed to scatter across the territory of most of my life. For me, they’ve been a place of offering, an altar of sorts. Every platform I’ve stood on is one frozen moment, a snapshot of one day’s gift, a window open for just one quick glimpse of the landscape beyond it. When words are your medium and songs are your paintbrush, I guess stages are your method. Well...mine, anyway. Even as I write this, I consider that screens are my platforms too . . . just without the awkward steps and the make-up. So, just what have all these platforms really given me, besides lots of stomach butterflies, cringe moments, stinging memories of bad notes, misplaced fingers on piano keys, some wonderful “highs”, some tear-filled “lows” and a little hearing loss? Stages have granted me amazing experiences, and incredible opportunities for learning and growth; but really, the most profound thing I can say about my platform is that it’s useful.
We can define a sweet spot as a very narrow, focused place where we are operating at our best:
a niche, a talent, a job description that seems not only the best fit for our gifts, but also the most fulfilling to us. But a sweet spot is nothing without a platform; stages, podiums, and computer screens are useful to me because they give me a way to pour out the sweet of my sweet spot.
So, really there’s nothing magical about a stage, a podium, or the internet; they’re just tools.
And that’s a very refreshing thought to me. Because it would be oh so easy to get caught in the trap of believing that my platform needs to look just like yours.
So I traverse this question...feel through all the corners of it. What defines a solid platform?
Is it the kitchen table where a weary mom gathers a gaggle of kids every morning to wrestle down truth? Is it an office sizzling with the energy of creative minds? Is it a classroom? A yoga studio?
A street corner? I am tackling this weighty thought with two very light-weight words: Connect and Care. It’s really not so much how my platform serves me, but how it allows me to serve.
It’s not so much a showcase for my talents as it is a place of show-stopping grace.
Connect. This introverted soul delights in an empty room, a solitary walk, or a span of hours spent in my own company...but you know what trumps all that? Being known by someone and really knowing that someone back. There is an empty well inside every human that begs to be found and filled. I hear you whisper...“You too?” Yes...everyone. We are created to connect; and we know it best when we’re missing it...missing connection. So, when you think about the platform for your sweet spot, it might just be as easy as looking around for the place where we most naturally connect with people. The place where someone can rub up against you and think
“Boy she hit the nail on the head!”; “He was speaking right to me!”; “Her message struck a chord!” A corner office, a corner on the cul-de-sac, a corner in the kitchen...there are numerous and diverse platforms because this crazy world is bursting with souls too numerous and diverse for a one-size-fits-all connection...and someone out there or just maybe right in front of you, is custom-made for the connection only you can give them.
Care. I think the platforms that were made for us are created by God with great care. Look hard for the strong, steady beams of care when you’re searching for your platform. Where is the useful place or position that allows you to exude care for the people around you? It could be at the tip of a paintbrush . . . have you experienced art that took your breath away or soothed your soul, created with unspeakable care? Bingo! Platform! It could be at a lovely table...have you ever been welcomed into a home whose beauty was care-fully cultivated to make you experience peace and rest? You got it...platform! It could be behind a camera...have you held to your heart the memory of a priceless moment, frozen in time? That camera is a platform for someone who understands...someone who really sees. And a stage? Well that can be a platform too, for words and songs and silences that are lovingly made to press into hearts and stir up hope.
Another beautiful thing about platforms is that they can change...we can skip happily to the next one if it’s just as useful. Seasons of living and giving and loving define our platform of the moment...like a lovely collection of paint colors, each one a graceful offering.
So, could we change the rules...even in a world of spinning and twirling, of stacking up titles and trophies to build a worthy platform? Let the new rule in the platform-finding game be the simplest: let all my reasons filter through the funnel of connection and care. Become the one who is most content standing on his or her platform, connecting and caring in a way that fits like a glove? And something in that thought just feels like too much fun...like pure joy...like a quiet knowing on the inside.
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