I Heard It on the Radio - “Do What You Do”

I Heard It on the Radio - “Do What You Do”

I LAUGHED OUT LOUD in 1999 when I heard Martina McBride belt out this message of self-confident independence with a peppy tempo and a smile in her voice: “Hey, don’t give ’em what they think they want, ’cause they don’t have a clue.”^a

For the first twenty-nine years of my life, I woke up every day with one goal in mind: to please every person I came into contact with.

I thought if I could give my first husband what he wanted, all would be good. I wouldn’t learn until later that he didn’t have a clue as to what he wanted—for himself or from me.

I also strove to please those I worked for—until the pivotal age of thirty. Thinking that they knew better than me what I should do and how I should do it, I forfeited my ability to discern and reason for myself. I wouldn’t learn until later that executives are sometimes just as clueless, and sometimes more so, than those who deal with the customers and employees every day in the trenches.

Girlfriends, I didn’t come into my own until I turned thirty, and I didn’t have a clear identity as to who I was, or what I had to offer the world, until I was forty. I spent most of the first half of my life patiently trying to be what others expected or wanted me to be—trying to be someone I was not.

Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. (Isaiah 60:1, NASB)

I have learned that to live a life of uncommon joy, baby, you must do what you do. And that begins with trusting yourself.

^a Georgia and Angelo Middleman, “Do What You Do,” © PolyGram International Publishing, Inc. and On My Mind Music, 1999.