am i useful?

You know what makes me happy? When I feel useful. I realized that yesterday while I was speaking to one student and going thru a POD session with him. After that, when a fellow volunteer mentioned that he actually thanked us for going through the session with him, that kind of made my day. I then reflected, why do I feel this way? And it's for the simple reason that I have been helpful.

Be it in basketball, ministry, doing logistics, relationships, I often would tag my worth in how useful I have been to the team, friends or students I am with. When I miss a basket and cause the team to lose, or did not manage to deliver a message clearly to the students/volunteers under my charge, I feel lousy. When I manage to make an impact in what I do, I feel happy. I guess this is not necessary a bad thing but I must be mindful that this cannot define my worth for my worth is found in God and not in the responses of man or how I feel. God simply put those encouraging moments to spur me on, so that in times of difficulty, I can remember that I can still be of use, if I choose to be used by Him. Reminds me of a decal I have on my table:

"God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called"

I can only be as useful as the Lord enables me to.