Plastic, Highly Over-Rated
There we were, riding along in the car, anxious to get home one Sunday after church. The ‘animals’ were getting restless and it was feeding time at the ‘zoo’! Now, I’m not sure how we got on the topic, but it turned out my little girl was missing her teddy bear and expressed how she couldn’t wait to cuddle him. I half-turned in my seat and said encouragingly, ‘I would be happy to cuddle you’. Her response? ‘But mommy, you’re not cozy, you’re just plastic!’
After having a little chuckle over that, I couldn’t help but think how true that was at times. I understood then as I do now, in her four year old mind, my skin, although not really plastic was smoother than a fuzzy stuffy. Her dolls were plastic and as much as she loved them, there were times when only a ‘cozy’ teddy would do!
How often I have felt myself cringing after some interaction with a friend or family member; how I must have come across as cold and heartless, showing the emotion of a plastic doll.
We are challenged by Jesus Himself, in His sermon on the mount to be salt and light in this world. We are reminded several times in God’s word to love others as we love ourselves. And I guess, that’s the rub; all too often we don’t really love ourselves as we should. We call that conceit and arrogance, and yet we are not capable of truly loving another until we can love ourselves properly. It is actually insecurity and low self esteem that shows up as arrogance as we desperately try to hide who we are deep down inside.
In meeting my Lord, Jesus Christ, and building a personal relationship with Him, I am learning how my creator, GOD, feels about me, how He sees me. My friends, that makes all the difference! I am developing a healthy love for myself, knowing that I am nothing without my Lord, but everything because of Him! Being made in the image of God Himself, I now can see others as He does; they, too, are made in His image. Out of a full heart I am able to reach out and love, because I am no longer ‘plastic’, with a heart of stone. According to Ezekiel 36:26, God promises to give a new spirit when we turn to Him, and give us a (soft) heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone.
How I thank Him that He breathes this new life into me and makes me usable for His purposes!
Come, walk this path with me and let’s be those ‘flesh and blood’ people that actually make a difference, on the way to the party!
After having a little chuckle over that, I couldn’t help but think how true that was at times. I understood then as I do now, in her four year old mind, my skin, although not really plastic was smoother than a fuzzy stuffy. Her dolls were plastic and as much as she loved them, there were times when only a ‘cozy’ teddy would do!
How often I have felt myself cringing after some interaction with a friend or family member; how I must have come across as cold and heartless, showing the emotion of a plastic doll.
We are challenged by Jesus Himself, in His sermon on the mount to be salt and light in this world. We are reminded several times in God’s word to love others as we love ourselves. And I guess, that’s the rub; all too often we don’t really love ourselves as we should. We call that conceit and arrogance, and yet we are not capable of truly loving another until we can love ourselves properly. It is actually insecurity and low self esteem that shows up as arrogance as we desperately try to hide who we are deep down inside.
In meeting my Lord, Jesus Christ, and building a personal relationship with Him, I am learning how my creator, GOD, feels about me, how He sees me. My friends, that makes all the difference! I am developing a healthy love for myself, knowing that I am nothing without my Lord, but everything because of Him! Being made in the image of God Himself, I now can see others as He does; they, too, are made in His image. Out of a full heart I am able to reach out and love, because I am no longer ‘plastic’, with a heart of stone. According to Ezekiel 36:26, God promises to give a new spirit when we turn to Him, and give us a (soft) heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone.
How I thank Him that He breathes this new life into me and makes me usable for His purposes!
Come, walk this path with me and let’s be those ‘flesh and blood’ people that actually make a difference, on the way to the party!
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