I am reading (listening to a book, on my audible app) by Brother Lawrence, a monk from the 1600’s.

 Today he was talking about how much time he has wasted in his life stewing about falling short of what he planned for himself.  He said “After years of wasted hours, days even months, I realized that where I was falling short was in thinking that God only wanted to hear from me in my self-proclaimed righteous moments. He wasn’t the one expecting perfection. I was! I would get my feet so wrapped up in the cords of feeling LESS THAN, trip and fall, then lay there. Unfortunately, we can also get wrapped up in some very unhealthy things trying to numb our pain and failure.”

I can relate to that. I spent way too many precious moments of life stuck in guilt and/or shame. The difference in guilt and shame is guilt is when you feel bad about something you have done wrong. Shame is when you feel bad about who you are! If we do something wrong, we need to go to the one that can forgive and cleanse. In Psalms 103 and Isaiah 43. HE REMEMBERS our sins NO MORE!

In the Bible there was recorded a dream Peter (one of Jesus disciples) had. There was a Blanket (I always imagine a pet net) 😊 that came down from the sky with a bunch of animals that Peter felt would be a sin to eat. The Lord said Peter “Eat” To which he replied, “I would never eat that disgusting stuff.” To which God replied, “How dare you call something disgusting that I have cleansed.”

 I vividly remember walking past my bathroom mirror and making a derogatory remark to/about myself…and I remember instantly hearing God deep in my spirit say, “How dare you call something disgusting that I have cleansed”.  That was a pivotal moment in my life. Now old habits die hard, and it took time to unlearn my habitual behavior, but I am SOOO! much nicer to me than I once was.

I truthfully used to think that for me to put me down, I was in some convoluted way raising God up. I could probably point to a few things in my life that nurtured those thoughts and feelings, but at 72 years old they are irrelevant.

I have come to realize my poor self-image and pride have one BIG thing in common. They are both ALL about me. We can all recall someone with a huge EGO and how self-consumed they are. If we are honest, we would have to say someone with an unhealthy self-image is just as self-absorbed. Neither of those personality traits makes a person endearing to others.

One of the very best books besides the Bible I ever read was Codependent No More.  By Melody Beattle

Someone may never read my Blog Again. But today we are trying to pass Laws against anyone that may possibly say or think anything that could make someone else feel bad. Now let me say here if you have nothing good to say then DON’T SAY IT.

 And if I don’t want someone’s opinions, I probably shouldn’t post my issues on social media!

Please don’t give someone else’s words or opinions the power to determine your worth or potential. Who cares what THEY say!!

I was never been a person that would say anything to purposely hurt anyone. However!  I must confess that I did think my opinions were pretty important. 😊

Please DONT give anyone else the power to make you feel bad about who you are. None of us have it all together. Everyone puts their pants one leg at a time, just like you.

I lost a year of my life and graduated with a totally different group of people than the ones I had started with, all because I allowed the opinions of others to define who I was.

We have all heard the “I have both good and bad news, which one do you want to hear first question. 😊 The Good News is it is up to you and I. The Bad news is it’s up to you and I.

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In the Bible in Philippians 3: 13-14. (Hope’s version) Apostle Paul said “FORGET the things that are behind you. PRESS on toward the things ahead of you. PUSH forward toward the purpose God has for your life.

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OR Reinhold Niebuhr put it this way   

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I CAN NOT CHANGE. The courage to CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN. And the WISDOM to know the difference.

Blessings! Thanks for Reading!