The Audience of One

Only madmen, geniuses, and supreme egotists do things purely for themselves. It is easy to buck a crowd, not too hard to march to a different drummer. But it is truly difficult - perhaps impossible - to march only to your own drumbeat. Most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, do things with an eye to the approval of some audience or other. The question is not whether we have an audience but which audience we have.
This observation underscores another vital feature of the truth of calling. A life lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before an one audience that trumps all other - the Audience of One. -- Os Guinness, The Call, p. 70

This passage really hit me as I thought about how much of my life is geared around audiences. Okay, so I'm not a theatrical actor, but it in one sense I am an actor. Much of who I am is because I think others will think more of me if I appear a certain way. After reading this, I realized that there is no person in the world (including my wonderful wife) whose opinion really counts. This is not to say that others cannot help us see ourselves more accurately, but rather that there is only one Supreme Opinion that in the end truly matters. He is the one that I must be striving please. All other opinions of me are mere window dressing. If I am living my life to please God, whether or not I please another living being on this earth doesn't matter. If they are pleased with me as well, great; if not, only One opinion truly counts.