I had a long list of MUST DOs the week before I left for Lake Geneva Youth Camp, including:

• go to the bank [I just drive thru and say, “so, there’s still a little somethin’ somethin’ in there, yeah?” Sometimes they frown and that means, “Sorry, sister.”]
• change the sheets on my bed
• finish laundry
• get a pedicure/manicure

That last one, well. Here’s why. When you are the “speaker” at a camp, people look at you. All the time. Whether you are on stage, off stage, laughing, talking, or just sitting on the back of a golf cart.

It’s not bad. It’s not weird. It’s just the way it is.

So it is important to look good. At least, I think it is. At least, I thought it was.

I wanted to look trendy and cool and Nashville and pretty and taken care of.

But I ran out of time. That week pre-camp was so ridiculously stressful that the hours were full and mani/pedi got bumped. And for all the talk I do about not wanting to be a Christian speaking punk and not wanting to care about what people think, the fact that all twenty of my nails were bare was a distraction to me.

[This is the point where the author (me) is reminding the reader (you) that the main character (me) is flawed.]

So I went to camp with ugly feet.

And God took many an opportunity to remind me that it did not matter one little smidge.

Like, not at all.

Not one camper noticed my toes. Or if they did, they were kind enough not to mention it.

You know why it didn’t matter?

Because the speaker doesn’t matter.

The speaker’s toes don’t matter.

The only thing that matters, in those moments that really matter, when that middle school girl has fully tuned her ears and the Holy Spirit is pounding in her heart, and she knows deep in her knower that God is telling a story with her life- God is all that matters.

God is always all that matters.

When Annie the Speaker forgets, heck, when Annie the Girl forgets that God is all that matters, chaos ensues. [And pride. And issues. And all manner of sinful things.]

So I’m leaving my toenails bare for a while as a reminder of how little other stuff matters. Whether you are an awesome speaker or an awful speaker, a patient mom or a struggling mom, a college student or a college professor, the truth is still the same.

God is all that matters.