It is sort of startling to think of ourselves as a virtual telegram. We deliver love, encouragement, and hope through kindness and calm, or at the other end of the scale, we send out criticism, judgment and failure messages that become discouragement and a sort of tyranny.
The first person with whom we communicate is ourselves. We are a constant telegram to...us. What has your telegram to self already delivered today?
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Why did I overeat again last night, idiot?
Why can I not do anything right?
If my life were different, I could...
I am thankful--for family, for hot showers, for food and shelter, for work, for friends, for...I wonder if our day's message to others is influenced by the one we first speak to ourselves. Perhaps we can only get our self telegram right if we understand why we are here.
Jen Hatmaker speaks on the purpose of our life. She says we are here:
To be loved by God, and
To enjoy and display God's glory.She asks (and answers), "How do we make Christ look precious above everything?"
When we make it known through our lives by the way we speak, by the way we treat people, by the way we respond to people, our kindness, our servanthood--the display of Christ's character in our hearts--when we begin to make it known that he is precious, people are drawn to that and the kingdom begins to grow.Can we teach ourselves, first and foremost, that Christ is precious and we are extravagantly loved by this Christ? Could that be our day's first telegram to ourselves?
When wayward words toward ourselves start our day, we can rewrite the telegram. Awareness of how precious is Christ in his love for each of us is the best message of all. When we live out of that telegram, our life will speak that same precious love.
Thanks, Jen Hatmaker, for your wisdom and wit.
Comments are welcome at feedyourstrength@gmail.com.
