To Thine Own Self Be True

Issue 11          [March 21, 2010]

     I am sure we have all heard this phrase. I myself heard it several years ago but I never TRULY grasp what it meant, or what it meant to me. I think of being in school and wanting to be IN with the crowd. No one actually wants to feel left out. No one wants to be in a crowd of people and feel like the odd ball. Now if you look at it, anyone can be the one that feels out of place. If we as Christians are in school, then when we dress and live holy, we will feel out of place and not fit in. If you take that same group of people and place them in a Youth Rally and Gods spirit moves, then they will be the ones that will feel out of place. We all have a place that we feel comfortable. The root of the solution is to be yourself. I feel this is more for young people trying to live a Holy and acceptable life but it can also be for some of us “not-so-young” living the same life.

     Weather it is school or the workplace or maybe even in our own home, we should be true to ourselves.  Guys don’t have to be guys, and girls don’t have to be girls. Example: A tambourine is sometimes looked upon as a girly instrument but it is perfectly safe for a guy to praise the Lord with it and not be in touch with his feminine side. Drums and the bass is sometimes looked upon as a guy thing but I can tell you of some girls who can play them better than most guys - hands down.

     We can be our self (as long as it coexists with a holiness living by the word of God). I have seen some who are around worldly friends and they lean toward the world and they might join in the fun of making fun of someone, but if they are true to themselves, they can stand up on their own feet and declare that this is their friend and take up for them.

     Be your own person. Don’t worry if you think someone will make fun of you, just be your self. If you like to read books then read books, and don’t fear those who call you a book worm or a geek, in a few years from now it will not be an issue and your life will continue.

     When I went to Adamsville Jr./Sr. High School between the years of 85 -90 I was made to feel that if you’d have money or play sports then you were a nobody and you had to “fit in where you could get in.” I wanted to be liked and not to feel an outcast, so I went along with what the other kids said and did. What they wore and listened to and so on and so on. I even went along with a couple of kids making fun of a Pentecostal girl because she wore dresses. That one time was a short lived moment but I still feel remorse 20 years later, because I was not true to myself.

     My life took a turn for the worse and I ended up not graduating in 1990. I moved off and ended up going to Texas for the summer, then on to Memphis for school. That summer I lived in Texas I had decided that I could be anyone I wanted to be, where no one knew the little snot nose geek from Morris Chapel, Tn. I made up my mind when I got to Memphis that I would wear my cowboy boots, wrangler jeans, Stetson hat and be the man I “wanted” to be and not the man I was trying to be.

     There were a few who mentally tested me but I held my ground and as I was just moving up from Texas, everyone called me Tex and it stayed with me for years. I went from a school of 525 students between 7-12 grades to a graduating class of over 550 and a school campus on 2 city blocks. This was a culture shock but I overcame the obstacles and moved up. I was a changed man all because I stood my ground, showed my true friendly smile and I was true to myself. When I walked down the halls, I actually had people who knew my name and yelled “Hey Tex” as I walked by. Many I didn’t even know who they were. I had become a better man because I conquered my life (or to some extent anyway). A man once said “Conquer your mind and conquer your flesh and you can conquer the world”  - ME, just now! Ha ha

     Can I say you will reach a plateau of great understanding and wisdom that will baffle the world? Can I say that you will be a rich and powerful person to which men will fall at your feet to serve you? NO, but you will be on your road to a happier life. When you are true to yourself and live for God, and face the challenges of the world with a positive attitude then you, my friend, are on a quick road to success.

     A man should not measure success as buying and selling and getting gain, but success should be measured by one that is true to their self and lives to serve the Lord with all their heart, and all their mind and all their soul and all their strength! This, my friend, is the measurement of real success. When you set a goal in your life and you achieve it, then guess what, you’ve JUST become a success!!

     Why is the 2 percent of the world dictating what the other 98 percent can or should do? Only 2 percent of this world is atheist but they have been successful in removing prayer in school and the ten  commandments from the court house walls and just this year they are removing the manger scenes from the city squares. It is even been made a “hate crime” to “Biblically” discuss the “alternate lifestyles”. Well, an abomination is still an abomination, no matter who wears the pants, dresses, or high heels. We will leave that for another episode!

     Why not be the superhero we all dreamed about as kids. We don’t have to wear a cape and run around with superpowers. We have all the super power we ever need and it‘s called . . . .The Holy Ghost! Instead of joining in and making fun of the oddball, why not befriend that person that is being made fun of, and maybe you can win them to the Lord. Is that not what Jesus would do?

     Our life is made up of several levels of tests. In my own mind I am convinced that some of these levels are like video game levels, where we have to pass the test here to go on to the next one. Kinda like “Giants” in our life and we have to face our giants and defeat them. We can not go around or over or under or especially ignore it, but we have to go THRU and conqueror it!

     God has confidence in us or else he wouldn’t put the test in front of us. Didn’t’ he say he wouldn’t put anything on us more than we could bare?! We have to begin to believe in our self. Reach deep down and find who you are. When you do I’m sure you will be able to go a lot farther in your life, because you have been true to yourself.

  You can raise the bar and set the standard of integrity. Yes there may be a few skirmishes with those that are without, but always remember, anything worth having never comes easy.

       One last thought before closing. I want to stress the importance of being yourself. If you live for God, hold your head high and NEVER be ashamed of who you are. In all actuality, those that follow the crowd and make scornful remarks about you, if they were truthful to themselves, they would say, that they wish they had the moral fortitude to be a strong person like you. Truth be known, all those who have no backbone envy those who do. It always has been, and always will be.  You can take that to the bank!

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Scripture For Your Basket

Psalms 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me

Psalms 30:5  For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Psalms 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread

Psalms 73:2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.  Psalms 73:3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.Psalms 73:17ntil I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Psalms 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.  Psalms 73:27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee.

Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

I Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

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Editors Comments:

 The feeling of inadequacy is just as much a disease as Pride. From one end of the spectrum to the other. There has to be a happy medium, and a healthy balance. What man can conquer if he is too humble to fight? What man can show compassion if he is overwhelmed in confidence?

     Life is an ongoing balancing act. Too much discipline will cut short some, and too much compassion will cause corruption in others. Life is a curios creature and one to be treasured, but also respected.

       I have found the more I go to the Lord in prayer, the more he redirects my steps when I falter or fail. Until the last breath is drawn, it is a continual work in progress!

     I have been privileged to know TRUTH and He granted me a desire which is more precious than Gold. Keep your money world, I got Jesus (He's never needed T.A.R.P. funds)!!!