"To thine own self be true..."

“To thine own self be true…..”

Most of us are familiar with the above quote taken from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but how many of us know this verse:  “And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou can not then be false to any man.”  Unless we can be true to ourselves first, we cannot be true to others.

To thine own self be true…..how profound.  How many of us have a hard time being true to ourselves?  Those of us that gave our life to another at the cost of losing who we are in the process will have a hard time being true to ourselves.  Allowing someone else to define who we are, we lose our ability to discover and grow inwardly.  We no longer are able to discern a truth from a lie.  For many of us, we have accepted lies for so long, that finding out what is true takes time. Having done this very thing, I know how difficult the journey to self-discovery can be.

Truth….truth is a word that brings out such negative reactions to many of us. You see truth is really an action word.  You cannot accept truth without change. Accepting truth about ourselves is difficult, especially to those of us who have been abused.  But
truth does set one free if we will allow it to; it is a crucial part of healing.  It gives us the freedom to be who we are.  We are able to come to terms with our weakness (without condemnation) and appreciate our strength. Truth gives strength; it naturally builds healthy boundaries.  Truth is open; it is honest even at the risk of being vulnerable again.  Truth is light and brings forth life.  When we walk in truth, we walk in light and when we walk in light we live a healthy life. 

Truth is also love.  The greatest act of love towards another is living a life that is truthful.  For those of us who find it difficult to love ourselves, we will find it will come more easily when we walk in truth about who we are. If we walk in truth, we walk in perfect love, and if we walk in perfect love, then we do not walk in fear because perfect love cast out fear.  Because we have been honest with ourselves, we are able to love ourselves with all of our imperfections, knowing that we are in “process” and therefore need not have others approval.  This is freedom indeed.

The second part of this verse is a natural occurrence if we hold true to the first part of the verse.  So, when in doubt as to our motives of not being truthful with someone….look inside, are we being less than truthful to ourselves?


”This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
                        -Shakespeare-Hamlet 

drowning in shallowness

I know it is possible to drown in shallowness.  Depth of speech, in conversations, dialogs, human interactions have always been important to me. I enjoy talking with the well educated and those with the wisdom of the ages; as well as children with great imagination.  Deep callling unto deep has always been so stimulating to me.

Unfortunately, sometimes I drown in the shallowness of the egotist, the self-centered; and,  the flat out ignoramous who speaks when knowing nothing of the topic.  One would think I would drown in the depths of my discussions with those brighter than myself; but have found the opposite to be true. 

I drown in the shallowness of the ignorant.  Now, this is not a critical statement, because one could be quite intelligent yet ignorant on the topic of discussion.  So my intent in this is not criticism, but just an observation when speech is shallow and I begin to drown, I can say - "another day."   Selah...

nar-cis-sism

nar·cis·sism (närs-szm) also nar·cism (-szm)
n.
1. Excessive love or admiration of oneself. See Synonyms at conceit.
2. A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem.
3. Erotic pleasure derived from contemplation or admiration of one's own body or self, especially as a fixation on or a regression to an infantile stage of development.
4. The attribute of the human psyche charactized by admiration of oneself but within normal limits.

Over the last several years I have heard this word, and honestly did not have the full understanding nor had ever met one of these human beings. Well; I believe I have met my first one recently and I pray. 


Lord, help me; I need your wisdom, please open the eyes of my heart so that I can see how you want to love this person and set them free. So far, my discovery of this person has led me to be "still," and pray and trust the Lord to do as He will to minister his grace and love to this individual through me. In the mean time, I need prayer; because this is probably the toughest assignment I have had in my entire adult life,  which is a pretty powerful statement; because anyone who knows me, knows that I have had some incredible "yet difficult," assignments from sweet Papa God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. So I say with humbleness of heart and mind, dear Lord Jesus - please help me. 


As I prayed this morning I received a promise from my daily Promise Box and I kissed the words given to me today, "My grace is sufficient for thee." 2 Corinthians 12:9   


Full context of this promise comes from:  2 Corinthians 12:7-10
The Message (MSG)
7-10Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, 

My grace is enough; it's all you need. 
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."

So I know, today when in dealing with this special person; when I am so weak and feel the pressure to have strong human emotions of "hatred for this personality disorder," I will know for a fact that my Papa is making me stronger in my human weakness. So hopefully, the both of us will be blessed. 


YESHUA/Jesus is my Lord!   Awe - selah I will pause and think about this.....