Quotes to Live By

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
(John Quincy Adams)

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. (Aristotle)

Every artist was first an amateur. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. (Thomas Jefferson)

It takes ten years to build up a reputation, but only five minutes to ruin one. (Anonymous)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Little Ordinary Me

The prophet Nehemiah's cousin can speak numerous languages, keep complex accounts, write on rolls of parchment and tablets of clay, and solve great mysteries. There is only one problem: she is a woman.

In her early childhood years, Sarah experienced the death of her mother and her father's subsequent emotional distance and she came to two conclusions: that God does not care about her, and that her accomplishments are the measure of her worth - the measure of her self.

Sarah, the talented scribe and cousin to Nehemiah, is catapulted into the center of the Persian court, working too many hours, rubbing elbows with royalty, and solving intrigues for the Queen. Ironically, it isn't failure but success that causes Sarah to lose her only source of external validation.

Oftentimes, the concept of self-worth is from people we love and trust. Just as Sarah struggled with self-worth, so have I. I have been putting way to much trust onto people's words and not enough on God. I have only come to terms with how others see me and how I should get away from it all. 

God has recently been showing me that I don't need anyone telling me what my self-worth is, except for Him. I don't need to put in effort into something so meaningless as to other people's concept as to how I should act and so forth. Instead, I just need to keep my eyes on Him and He alone will guide me through life.

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