Poor Charlie Brown does have really low self-esteem, doesn't he?
Some thought provoking stuff in this article:
Look inside for beauty and failings (from:
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/17406.htm )
Some people get angry because God put thorns on roses. Others rejoice because God put roses on thorns -- Anonymous
HE first failed in business at 22, then again at 24. His sweetheart died when he was 26 and he had a nervous breakdown at 27. He stood, unsuccessfully, for his nation's parliament at the ages of 29, 31 and 34.
Abraham Lincoln's early record did not indicate a life headed for greatness.
After becoming US president at 51, Lincoln wrote with affection about his early struggles. He said he realised early that God and nature had given him permission to be inadequate.
"I discovered that we are all a mixture of success and failure; good and bad," he wrote.
"I decided then and there not to be too hard on myself, and on others."
We are strange creatures, more lovely than we sometimes think, but sometimes more sinful than we can imagine.
We are inspired by slight touches of love and affection, but easily turned off by perceived slights or insults. Often, when we seem cold-hearted and petty, we are just hurt.
When we appear self-centred, it is often that we are frustrated that we cannot find ways to bring the warmth that is in us to the world around us.
We are puzzled and offended by the concept of sin, yet know it is part of the human condition.
Paul the apostle put it this way: "It's not a question of whether you are a sinner. It's only a question of what are your sins."
All of us struggle with anger, hatred, bitterness and jealousy. We are sometimes a lot worse than we imagine.
It's hard to see the truth about ourselves.
We tend to overestimate either our goodness or our failings and become either big-headed or downcast.
We are sometimes so preoccupied with our self-importance, with making money and fawning over worldly celebrity that we drift away from the great truths in life.
All religions teach us to help people when we can. All religions teach us not to kill or steal or cheat. All religions teach us we should be forgiving and not too hard on people when they mess up, because some day we will mess up. Yet, it's easy to forget that.
C.S. Lewis seemed on the mark when he said if you examined 100 people who had lost their faith in Christianity, not many would turn out to have reasoned out of it by honest argument, "most just drift away".
In a society that is purposely and effectively dumbed down, the rarest and most valuable of commodities is discernment about ourselves and our world.
US pastor the Rev Joe Wright caused a ruckus when he prayed for discernment at the opening of the Kansas Senate.
"We have lost our equilibrium. We have inverted our values," Wright said.
"We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
"We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle.
"We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We've neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
"We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
"We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
"We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
"We have abused power and called it politics.
"We have coveted our neighbours' possessions and called it ambition.
"We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
"We have ridiculed the time-honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
"Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free."
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out in protest. But the prayer echoed around the world because it called for recognition that we do not have to live in spiritual poverty. Ralph Waldo Emerson said faith and love were apt to be spasmodic in the best minds.
"Men live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter, and with their hands on the door-latch they die outside," Emerson said.
Without faith we are just counting down the days until death.
by Bryan Patterson
"It's hard to see the truth about ourselves".
Yes, I think so too.
"We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem" ???
That's the kinda line that gets my brain cells all squirmy and itchy. What do you think?
Sela
