James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above.

That’s a scripture we typically throw out there when we’re talking about a baby being born. No doubt, a good and perfect gift from above. But hey, since we know that EVERY good and perfect gift is from above, we’re going to talk about something else good. Something all women want to know about. Let’s talk about eyelashes.

Fake eyelashes are my one guilty pleasure. I straight up love me some big long lashes. They’re all the rage. Hey for 50 bucks you can go get you some lash extensions applied that will last a few weeks – or you can be like me and spend a whopping 3 bucks on the Salon Perfect brand at the local Wal-Mart and practice becoming a master at gluing them on.

I’ve had 14 years of practice so I nearly have an unfair advantage. You see, I started wearing fake lashes when no one else knew they still existed in stores, probably still hanging there from the 60’s when American women were last obsessed with lashes.

Hang with me – I’m going somewhere here folks.

It was like my 2nd day of wearing lashes and a beautiful young girl in my office looked me in the eyes and said “wow … are those YOUR lashes?”

Obvious answer – no. However my answer was – yes. Shamefully I said yes. Then our conversation turned into “what brand of mascara do you use and can I come over sometime so you can show me how to do that?”

I avoided her from that day on. No joke.

Why did I do that? I had literally just faced a spiritual battle. I knew the truth was better, but I just wanted for a moment to take credit for something that wasn’t mine.

Life is always going to give us an opportunity to take credit for things we have no business taking credit for. The applause and the compliments are almost addicting. The spotlight feels good. We all crave to be recognized. But are we keeping the glory for ourselves, or are we turning the spotlight right back to God where it belongs.

The average person in the world earns $2 per day. TWO DOLLARS. It’s amazing to me how quickly we can blow $2 and the average person had to put in a hard days labor (I’m talking labor like you and I have never experienced before) for the same $2 we spend on a chapstick we’ll lose tomorrow.

So here we are with our money and our luxuries and our 1st world problems and we think it’s all because we’re good people. It’s because we are deserving somehow? It’s because we earned it.

Pshhhhhhh – girl listen to me. None of the glory goes to us. Just as those weren’t my lashes and it was all a result of a $3 box of pixy wings affixed perfectly to my eyelids, all the goodness in our life is simply a result of God’s grace and mercy.

Every success in our lives is all a result of God. I mean sure you worked – you put in some good effort. But don’t forget it was God that gave you the ability and the opportunity that TRULY made it happen. The credit goes to him. Make your life a stage which gives God the spotlight.

Love God so big and so out-loud that your gratitude for all he has done in your life acts as a magnet to others. Pull them in to know your God by giving him the credit. It really wasn’t you. It was God.

In Philippians chapter 3 Paul encourages us to stop bragging about ourselves and start praising God. I love how he puts together this impressive list of all his accomplishment and then he says they’re like “dung” – you know dung, manure, crap, a big pile of d00-doo – compared to what Christ is in his life.

And that is us too. I don’t know how awesome your accomplishments are – perhaps your list of success will be mighty long this month, and I’m so proud of you – but please please remember this – God is the foundation of all those things. All good and perfect things are from above. Give him credit. The opportunities came because of Him. The connections were orchestrated by him. The strength is because of Him. The ability because of Him.

Taking the credit for all the good things in your life like you’re all that and a bag of chips is like me claiming those eyelashes were mine.

Taking credit when the credit isn’t ours to take is not only the wrong choice, but eventually it will come back to bite you.