Daily Thought for Monday, October 3rd

October 3, 2011

The Art of Accepting One’s Self

Today’s Thought:

“It is as hard to see one’s self as to look backwards without turning around.”  – Henry David Thoreau

Today’s Quote:

“He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise.”  – Lao Tzu

Today’s Question:

Did you know; “Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not posses, and to gain applause which he cannot keep?” – Samuel Johnson

Today’s Bible Verses:            Psalms 139:13-16 & 2 Corinthians 5:17

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the oceans, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering."  –  St. Augustine

Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror and not like what you see?  Most everyone has at some point or other.  And have you ever looked at who you are and what your all about and not been satisfied with your assessment?

I sometimes wonder if one of the reasons we, as Christians have such a hard time ‘loving our neighbor as ourselves;’ is because we don’t hold ourselves in high esteem to begin with.  I know there are those who seem arrogant, precocious, braggadocios and self-centered, but by in large, they are simply masking those things they don’t like about themselves by attempting to act like they think they have no faults.

See we need to learn to see ourselves as imperfect.  We have a hard time accepting this truth sometimes.   We need to realize we can only be made perfect in Christ.  

I’m not saying that we don’t need to always strive to improve ourselves by learning and growing, but we need to accept we are what God made us to be.  We look the way He intended us to look, give or take a few pounds.  We have the personality and abilities that God gave us and we need to accept them and make the most of them for His glory.

Sometimes self actualization is being able to laugh at who we are, what we have done and being able to accept ourselves, as we are not as we think others think we should be.

This is illustrated by the thoughts of a character, Tom, in the British sitcom, “Waiting For God” when he said, “We are going crackers - would you like to put some cheese on us?” – Michael Aitken (from ‘Waiting For God’)   What Tom was implying in this instance was that we need to not always take ourselves too seriously and we need to invite others to join in with us being who we are so that we can all enjoy whatever we might be.

“Actualization of self cannot be sought as a goal in it’s own right.  Rather, it seems to be a by-product of active commitment of one’s talents to some cause, outside the self, such as the quest for beauty, truth, or justice.” – Sidney Jourard

To successfully love others as God wants us to: we must learn first to love ourselves; not from a worldly point of view: but rather from a Godly perspective.

We need to see the soul and the person that God loved enough to give His Son to die for, in spite of the flaws, imperfections, quirks and weaknesses: and we need to embrace the truth that God wants to take all those things that make us who we are and make something beautiful for Him, if we will only let Him.

So do you see what I see?  I see me as having possibility, beauty and being worth loving, because I am special to God.  And seeing that in me helps me then in turn love the rest of ya’ll as being just the same as me in God’s eyes.

Today’s Prayer:

Father, someday I want to say, ‘Deliver me from me, Lord,’ but maybe what I should say instead is help me see in me what you see and help me allow you to take what you see and make the most of it.  Help me to remember You don’t make mistakes, just miracles. And my life has the potential to be one of them.