Self Confidence or Self Compassion

If you could pick self confidence or self compassion, which would you pick and why?  If you want to be successful, the answer might surprise you.

Many of us want self confidence.  However, this is such a fickle thing.  Even celebrities who have reached the highest heights of success in many people’s eyes have a complete lack of it frequently.

Self confidence is simply too dependent on outside factors that you have no control over.  For instance, the star high school athlete who goes to a D2 college only to realize he’s suddenly average or even less than average compared to his new teammates.

Or the successful manager who climbs the ladder and finally reaches CEO level only to realize he’s woefully inadequate for his new role.

What if there was a better way?  What if we realized we’re not the point of it all anyway?  

I’m talking about self compassion here.  Realizing that if God has made you good enough through Christ, then you’re already good enough.  

In an achievement based culture we often are tempted to believe that those who don’t achieve anything aren’t worth anything.  This is completely contradictory to the gospel.

We aren’t worth anything because of what we’ve done but because of what the Savior has done.  He makes us worthy, not ourselves or our actions.

This can be a very freeing truth.  I want to challenge you to be compassionate with yourself.  If you struggle with being hard on yourself like I have for years, don’t you think it’s time for a new track?

If God Himself calls you worthy, who are you to say otherwise?  If He extends compassion to you, why would you not extend compassion to yourself and others?

Reenergize

Last night we were watching a Star Trek movie. It got me wondering how many times we need to be energized. They said it several times throughout the show, & I think we need to do the same thing with our own lives on a regular basis.

Life can be difficult at times and we all need to take time to be energized.  Reenergize may be a better term for this idea.  We go, we go, we go; but we never restore, we never reenergize  and we never refresh.

When was the last time you did something specifically to reenergize?  When was the last time you took a Sabbath? It doesn't have to be an amazing vacation although those are nice. It can be something as simple as unplugging from screens for a day.

So, what does a Sabbath look like to you?  Have you considered the necessity of it?  In our culture back home it seems rather popular to say “I'm so busy”; we need to ask ourselves why?

If the God of the universe could take a day of rest surely we can take a day of rest, don't you think? Why are we so addicted to busy? I understand, it is a bit of an addictive high at times. But I'm such a fan of taking the time to be reenergized.

I think it's built into the fabric of creation. Every seven days is a day of rest. Otherwise life just doesn't stop. We must remember we are not robots; we’re human beings.  Sometimes that means to just be. Maybe that's a luxury that not everyone can have and maybe I need to account for that.  But maybe it's just not a priority for many of us.

When was the last time you felt reenergized? When was the last time you felt restored? Do you even remember? What are you going to do to make that happen? What can you do, if even for just a day, to reenergize?