Hello again my friends,
We just finished a 3-month series on heart-writing. I hope it was helpful. In case you didn’t realize it, the posts on my Insta and Facebook were connected to that as well. If you want more little tips on heart-writing, go back and look at those posts – they may add ideas for you to use as you write on your heart.
Going forward now…
Let’s talk about our security. Another piece of identity. Have you ever had one of those moments where you over-reacted at the smallest situation? Yeah! Me too! (I always wish you all could hear my tone of voice. This “yeah, me too!” is said with great annoyance at how dumb I have responded and been with certain events in my life. Heehee).
But it’s also good to be able to laugh at myself about those times. Being able to laugh at yourself is one of the first indicators of how secure you are. Pay attention to that. It’s one thing to be able to laugh at yourself in privacy later – this is good, but to be able to laugh at
yourself even in the moment, when everyone else is laughing at you too, this is even better.
Please hear what I’m saying. I’m not talking about laughing at yourself in a mocking way or dismissive way. Nor in a cruel, condescending way. I am talking about seeing the silliness of your own reaction and then being able to laugh with others as you realize your, shall we say, overly dramatic response.
If you can laugh at yourself healthily – in the middle of the situation – that is an indicator of your security.
I have a friend who responds very well to her own silliness as soon as she sees it. She can laugh about it and then even joke about it later. Because I know this friend, I know she is not doing it in a mean way to herself, that would be damaging to your soul. I have another friend who cannot and will not laugh at her silliness because the silliness is tied to her perfection. And when you mess with that, you are messing with her as a person.
Let me expound a bit.
The first friend, let’s call her Penelope (I don’t know anyone named Penelope –
other than my imaginary friend from grade school. I also pulled her out in high school so I
could embarrass my sister in public places :D😁😏) Penelope was and is secure. She has been teased a lot, and I know at times has been hurt. But nonetheless, she has learned the value of who she is APART from her reactions and extreme responses. She knows when she makes mistakes, gets emotional, and feels a bit ‘all over the place’ that she is still valuable and loved by her Creator and by many others.
The second friend, named Scooter (another name I don’t have any connection to… but think it’s hilarious because I can only picture a dog scooting on his butt when I hear it. So we’ll use it because it’s a funny picture and a fun name to say). Scooter is so perfectionistic that she cannot laugh at herself for hardly anything. You see, for her, if she acts foolish, makes a mistake, reacts extremely over anything, it is detrimental to all she is. Her entire self feels rejected to the core. She sees her failure and that is unacceptable to her. She cannot laugh at herself because she is ashamed of herself.
Ashamed. Shame. Guilt.
Shame and guilt tell us we are never good enough. Never mind what Jesus did for us, who God says we are, or what Scripture says! We are never good enough.
The next few months we will talk about this – being secure enough to not be so sensitive and to not give shame or guilt a place in us.
