i have a bee in my bonnett today
after my roommate pulled a classic stunt i saw daily while teaching workshops in brazil.
"my roommate is amazing." i told a visiting friend.
"it's true," she joked.
"it's really hard being as amazing as she is." i added
"seriously!" she returned, "and i'm not just beautiful, i'm also smart and wonderful!"
"it's a hard life when you're as wonderful as her!" i agreed
"yeah! i'm pretty wonderful!....
...well, you know, not really, of course,"
she corrected apologetically,
"i don't want to sound conceited..."
and there's where the bee comes in.
all joking aside,
WHAT do we think is wrong or evil or conceited about saying we're
fantastic, amazing, and wonderful??
i see it every day -
wonderful people who become embarassed or repentent for suggesting that they are, in any way, awesome.
WHERE did we get this rediculous idea that it's bad to say 'i'm fantastic'?!?
i think it comes from a classic
mis-internpretation of the scriptures + being overly hard on ourselves.
because the scriptures clearly condem mankind for the sin of
PRIDE
(see also Haughtiness, Hardheartnedness, Envy, Conceit, or Boasting).
"pride goeth before destruction!" (16:18)
"whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased" (matt 23:12)
"polluted because of the pride of your heart" (morm 8:36)
and we assume that in order to NOT be condemned or destroyed or polluted in our hearts, we have to think very little of ourselves and our acheivements.
right?
WRONG!
"I (God) have said, Ye (us!) are gods;
and all of you are children of the most High!" (ps 82:6)
wow!
and how about when the Lord visited Moses? He tells him that,
"I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name, for I am without beginning of days or end of years...and behold, thou art my son."
so....if God is our Father and He is glorious, wonderful, divine, and amazing in every way then WE are, by default, also glorious, wonderful, divine, and amazing!
(are we perfect yet? NO - but did we inheret amazingness? YES!)
THAT IS A TRUTH!
so what on EARTH is bad or wrong about declaring something that is already an eternal truth??
this is where i draw the line between aknowledging truth and being lifted up in the pride of our hearts:
"i am holier than thou" (isa 65:5)
THIS is the difference i taught my students every week in brazil -
it is NOT shameful or wrong to say you are a great person!
what IS unkind and un-christ-like is to say, "i am BETTER than another child of God."
THAT is the pride we are warned against,
because saying we are better or deserve more than someone else
(who is also a divine child of God)
leads to contention, selfishness, fear, anger, violence, and general snobbery.
remember, satan loves to take sacred, precious things and make them a tool for unhappiness,
and loving ourselves is JUST as precious, sacred, and vital to our eternal happiness
and JUST as easily manipulated!
telling yourself you are wonderful is healthy and needful!
it's satan's twist of comparing that makes it prideful and destructive.
think about it, loving ourselves is important!
aren't we told to love our neighbors AS OURSELVES?
not less than we love ourselves (which is pride),
and NOT MORE than we love ourselves (which is abasing ourselves unjustly)!
so really, we aren't able to fulfill the second great commandment unless we love ourselves for the wonderful, divine, and amazing people we are first!
for how can we possibly love our neighbors as ourselves if we DON'T love ourselves to begin with?
every time we say
"i'm so stupid!"
or
"i'm a horrible person!"
or
"i'm so bad at this..."
or we deflect a compliment
we are telling our sweet little spirits that we don't, in fact, believe that we are the divine chidlren of God that we are.
...which is a lie :) and none of us out there think lying is good, right?
right!
so stop!
i encourage everyone to say at least
3 wonderful things to themselves every morning
and then refrain from using self-destructive language throughout the day.
make a plan to change your knee-jerk tendencies to call yourself
"stupid" "horrible" "lame" or whatever
to something more accurate,
like
"i have room to improve!"
"i'm getting better every day!"
"i learn from my mistakes!"
"i am wonderful even tho i'm imperfect!"
if you need help in the beginning, call me and i will TELL you how amazing you are as often as you need! :)
because we are DIVINE
and we ALL deserve that kind of treatment!
Buzzzzzzbzzzzzzzzzzzzbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
is your bonnett buzzing yet?
6 comments:
Oh, Emily- this was lovely. So true! So something I VERY MUCH need to be reminded of. I may even link some of my friends to it. You are incredible and I am glad youa re my friend!
Emily, YOU are divine!!!! I love you!
You are so awesome! I love this post, it's so true, sometimes we can be so self-loathing! And what a shame that is :)
AMEN and AMEN!!
This was brilliant! Thanks so much for sharing. You are WONDERFUL.
Oh my gosh! How I love you when you rant and rave about our innate fabulousness. This totally reminded me of a quote I re-found last week.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Amen.
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