"Beauty is a summation of the parts working together in such a way that nothing is needed to be added, taken away or altered."~Elio Carletti
"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! "~Psalms 139:14 The Message
When God created us he saw beauty. Why? He saw a reflection of himself. We have to learn how to see ourselves and others the same way God sees us. When we take this perspective in life it empowers us to traverse over certain humps and speed bumps that would attempt to hinder our progress.
Of course it's appeasing to see a beautiful face yet it is just as equally or if not even more rewarding to see a beautiful soul. Just like people take measures to enhance or beautify their outer images, we can also take steps to enhance our inner selves.
Here are some simple keys to beautifying your internal image:
1. Proper Diet. Yes, watch what you are allowing yourself to hear and ingest into your psyche. Words are spirit. They can be mercenaries of death or nurses of life. Aim to live a life of moderation and not of over-indulgence. How do you know what is inside of people? Listen to what they are saying and how they are rationalizing.
2. Daily Exercise. Challenge yourself to grow and mature in your mental, emotional and spiritual growth. Increase not only knowledge but applicable application. Learn to extract that which is beneficial and uplifting out of every situation and circumstance. Increase your faith muscles by using them. Build patience by learning to endure that which leads you closer to God's promises in your life.
3. Good Hygiene. Get rid of all stinking thinking. Release grudges, malice, bitterness, and resentment. The longer you harbor these viruses, they will corrupt your thoughts processes and eventually your hard-drive...your heart. Rinse and purge all those things which would have you bound and debilitate your spirit from being loving, kind and carefree.
4. Makeup. We normally view makeup as an agent that covers that which is flawed versus enhancing that which is already beautiful. A house can be beautiful before you decorate it but it can be even more appealing and inviting when it is decorated from top to bottom. Think of yourself as a house. You have many rooms: your intellect, emotions, talents, and etc. Enhance yourself to improve upon those things. A smile is makeup to our emotions. Yes, things will happen to derail us off our "A-game", but we have an innate ability called choice. We can choose to let the external world control us or we can control ourselves. Bring joy, peace and happiness with you and put them on regardless of whatever happens.
As you live, you will encounter enough ugliness in the world, therefore resolve from this day forward to bring beauty with you wherever you go.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Releasing Crutches
“What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now.”~Anon
“One day at a time--this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.”~Anon
"... this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before~Philippians 3:13
A crutch is a support used to assist the physically injured or disabled. Normally crutches are temporary fixtures in the injured's life. We, usually in time with healing and/or therapy, regain normalcy. Those who do not heal, remain disabled and eventually move into a more permanent confining support fixture like a wheelchair.
Some physical illustrations of life can be aptly applied to the spiritual side of life. We experience various traumas throughout our journey. We may consequently become injured, yet we still have to meander through life's labyrinth. However, sometimes we mask our emotional injuries while secretly carrying crutches that assist us in making sense of questions like "how" and "why" certain things have transpired in our lives. Sometimes we hide emotional traumas and injuries because we do not want to perceived as weak, incapable, inadequate or inferior. We do not want to identify with that which we have shunned and/or harshly judged in others. We want to be identified as strong, because we have an embedded creed in our psyche that "only the strong survive."
Very rarely will you encounter a person who hasn't gone through some type of pain, disappointment or trauma. It's called living. The problem is when we believe we have a patent or trademark to these negative experiences. Another serious problem is when we use the "past" to justify our ill-decisions and choices we are making in the "present". Yes, we get hurt either by others' doing or our own. Some pain is extremely devastating. Coupled to the aforementioned, we have been taught "time heals all wounds". This is a farce.
If a physical wound is not treated, infections like gangrene can set in. Slowly gangrene kills all the cells in that which was once healthy and viable until amputation is the only remedy. Well, the same applies spiritually. Just because we can rebound from offenses and traumas doesn't mean that we have recovered. Perhaps we are holding onto emotional crutches that are masking our inability to truly walk through our valleys. Without these emotional crutches, others would see the pain we are in. They would see we are infected with pain, unforgiveness, resentment, malice, bitterness, envy, strife, low self-esteem, and apathy which over time untreated begin to metastasize throughout our spiritual tissues and decaying our hearts and minds.
Have you heard others or even yourself rationalize their current predicaments, attitudes or vices.
"I was in a bad relationship..."
"My childhood was messed up..."
"My parents divorced..."
"My parent wasn't there for me..."
"I have been stabbed in the back..."
"I have been used and abused..."
"Someone special disappointed me..."
"Someone I admired failed to live up to the image..."
"Someone hurt me..."
"I have done some terrible things..."
"No one told me the right things to do..."
"I didn't apply myself..."
"My family hurt me..."
"My spouse left me..."
"My parent was physically abusive..."
"My parent was an alcoholic..."
"I didn't have a role model..."
"My parents decisions hurt me and affected my life..."
"People at the church let me down..."
"I failed..."
And the list goes on...Why are these emotional crutches? They identify that something has injured us. They also explain why we respond or express ourselves the way we do. Nonetheless, how long do we hold onto these things. Is holding onto them helping us to heal or crippling us?
When we don't deal with them and release them, they cripple us. They cripple us in our minds, bodies and souls. One of our goals in life should be "wholeness". We consume a lot of time exhibiting portraits of "wholeness" through our outer appearances and statuses yet we cannot be "divided" and be "whole". We have to, at some point, put as much or even more interest in being healthy in our minds and spirits. We have to purge the toxins of excuses and proactively pursue healthy perspectives concerning our past, present and future.
Whatever we went through, we cannot change it, therefore we must release it. A lot of things we persevered through were necessary. They allowed us to obtain a testimony in order to bear witness to others, that they too can be triumphant over any situation or circumstance. In these instances, we cannot hold unto crutches, we must release them so we can grab others' hands and help them through their valleys.
“One day at a time--this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.”~Anon
"... this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before~Philippians 3:13
A crutch is a support used to assist the physically injured or disabled. Normally crutches are temporary fixtures in the injured's life. We, usually in time with healing and/or therapy, regain normalcy. Those who do not heal, remain disabled and eventually move into a more permanent confining support fixture like a wheelchair.
Some physical illustrations of life can be aptly applied to the spiritual side of life. We experience various traumas throughout our journey. We may consequently become injured, yet we still have to meander through life's labyrinth. However, sometimes we mask our emotional injuries while secretly carrying crutches that assist us in making sense of questions like "how" and "why" certain things have transpired in our lives. Sometimes we hide emotional traumas and injuries because we do not want to perceived as weak, incapable, inadequate or inferior. We do not want to identify with that which we have shunned and/or harshly judged in others. We want to be identified as strong, because we have an embedded creed in our psyche that "only the strong survive."
Very rarely will you encounter a person who hasn't gone through some type of pain, disappointment or trauma. It's called living. The problem is when we believe we have a patent or trademark to these negative experiences. Another serious problem is when we use the "past" to justify our ill-decisions and choices we are making in the "present". Yes, we get hurt either by others' doing or our own. Some pain is extremely devastating. Coupled to the aforementioned, we have been taught "time heals all wounds". This is a farce.
If a physical wound is not treated, infections like gangrene can set in. Slowly gangrene kills all the cells in that which was once healthy and viable until amputation is the only remedy. Well, the same applies spiritually. Just because we can rebound from offenses and traumas doesn't mean that we have recovered. Perhaps we are holding onto emotional crutches that are masking our inability to truly walk through our valleys. Without these emotional crutches, others would see the pain we are in. They would see we are infected with pain, unforgiveness, resentment, malice, bitterness, envy, strife, low self-esteem, and apathy which over time untreated begin to metastasize throughout our spiritual tissues and decaying our hearts and minds.
Have you heard others or even yourself rationalize their current predicaments, attitudes or vices.
"I was in a bad relationship..."
"My childhood was messed up..."
"My parents divorced..."
"My parent wasn't there for me..."
"I have been stabbed in the back..."
"I have been used and abused..."
"Someone special disappointed me..."
"Someone I admired failed to live up to the image..."
"Someone hurt me..."
"I have done some terrible things..."
"No one told me the right things to do..."
"I didn't apply myself..."
"My family hurt me..."
"My spouse left me..."
"My parent was physically abusive..."
"My parent was an alcoholic..."
"I didn't have a role model..."
"My parents decisions hurt me and affected my life..."
"People at the church let me down..."
"I failed..."
And the list goes on...Why are these emotional crutches? They identify that something has injured us. They also explain why we respond or express ourselves the way we do. Nonetheless, how long do we hold onto these things. Is holding onto them helping us to heal or crippling us?
When we don't deal with them and release them, they cripple us. They cripple us in our minds, bodies and souls. One of our goals in life should be "wholeness". We consume a lot of time exhibiting portraits of "wholeness" through our outer appearances and statuses yet we cannot be "divided" and be "whole". We have to, at some point, put as much or even more interest in being healthy in our minds and spirits. We have to purge the toxins of excuses and proactively pursue healthy perspectives concerning our past, present and future.
Whatever we went through, we cannot change it, therefore we must release it. A lot of things we persevered through were necessary. They allowed us to obtain a testimony in order to bear witness to others, that they too can be triumphant over any situation or circumstance. In these instances, we cannot hold unto crutches, we must release them so we can grab others' hands and help them through their valleys.
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