The lesson of today came to me in the form of a Bible passage I was reading and I know that not all of you are religious or spiritual but don’t worry, this has more to do with you than you might think!
“Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it”.
How simply this statement is but yet how little we all seem to pay attention to it. In all honesty, most people do follow the crowd; they seek approval from others and not from themselves, they sacrifice their own selves for the temporary approval of their neighbors, friends, co-workers ans so on. I cannot say I have never done this in my lifetime, at some point we all have; it’s merely our human nature. But let me tell you this, one day I woke up and realized that the same people that I was seeking approval from either disliked me or I disliked them yet I still cared what they thought, I still did things I thought they might like and for what? To add additional stress to my already over complicate life… It was just foolish of me so I stopped caring and moved on. Though I may not been "liked" by everyone, my life just became so much simpler because it no longer mattered to me what others thought. I liked myself and that was so much more important to me than having everyone “like” me!
When you follow the crowd, you often get lost in it, what does this really mean; well it means you become just another face, a clone of everyone else. Your individually has been striped and replaced by the fact that you are now just like everyone else. Imagine this: you are trying to please everyone who is in turn trying to please everyone so really who are any of us trying to please? It's a never ending cycle that gets you nowhere! Get off that boat and take the path least walked! You'll find me there and I'll accept you as you are!
“When you are set free of the bondage of pleasing others, when you are free from currying others favor and their approval - then no one will be able to make you miserable or dissatisfied. And then if we know we have pleased God, contentment will be our consolation.”
-Kay Arthur
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
-Matthew 7:13-14
This is a well-written and very poignant post! :-)
ReplyDeleteIrene
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