I’ve been thinking about a quote I heard last week. It’s this:
“There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he does not mind who gets the credit.”
This quote, according to the Reaganfoundation.org, was on a plaque that President Ronald Reagan kept on his desk in the Oval Office of the White House.
I immediately remember how, as a young woman so full of ambition and dreams to make a name for myself, I was haunted by a statement my friend Elizabeth told me one day. She said, “Live so that others get the credit, God gets the glory, and you get the joy.”
What a beautiful way to live! For the past two decades, I’ve taken this quote to heart as I’ve grown as a leader. When I live hidden in Christ, taking on the nature of a servant, others often get the credit, but I get the joy.
And then I find Reagan’s plaque quote, and I feel inspired to live differently once again.
I shared Reagan’s plaque quote with my students. They nod in agreement because they know the difference between a life spent trying to win approval and gain fame and a life spent in a kind of self-abandonment to greater causes.
If we limit our lives to gaining credit, we miss out on the adventure of doing what we do out of a pure, loving, and holy motivation.
It feels so free to live unlimited like this.