Dangerous Hand-Me-Downs
I do this without thinking about it - maybe you do, too?
I hear a subconscious verse in my head that shares wisdom for the moment I am facing. Only this 'verse' isn't biblical - its more of a 'family wisdom' hand-me-down.
They were given with good intentions for the most part, it's just that they are not always right. Here are some examples from my house and from others...
"If you can't do something right, don't do it at all."
"Practice makes perfect."
"Pick yourself up by your own bootstraps."
What word of wisdom comes to mind from your upbringing?
The one I caught myself repeating yesterday was...
"If I'm not learning something daily, you might as well shoot me."
I had a feisty grandmother. I looked up to her as a role model. She always carried her bible and a small flask of whiskey. Her best friend was Jesus, and she never was afraid to say it. She didn't know a stranger, and she always kept a smile on her face, even when she was hurting. She dressed to the nines and the only time I saw her without gloves, jewelry and red lipstick, was when she was drinking her sweet tea from a glass Mason jar after working in her amazingly productive vegetable garden. I do not exaggerate. She was bigger than life.
So, when she said something, I listened. And, when she said, "If I'm not learning something daily, you might as well shoot me", I took it as gospel truth.
Only it didn't come from The Gospel.
And, now it has manifested itself in me as a driver for being worthy to take my next breath. I'm only worthy to keep living if I keep doing.
The problem with this gospel is it keeps me from being a human 'being' and molds me into a human 'doing' - always doing...and never enough.
What is something you've been holding as 'gospel truth' that, in reality, isn't?
It's funny about jalepenos. If I am practicing my spanish and tell a waiter I would like some 'jal-uh-pee-noes', I am not saying it perfectly. Practice does not make perfect - Practice makes permanent.
What are you practicing today? Listen to the old family hand-me-downs of wisdom. Listen with a conscious ear to what you are really saying to yourself. Is it your gospel or The Gospel truth?
Because, you really don't have to pick yourself up by your own bootstraps. We were never made to be self-sufficient. The real Gospel says "I Am Sufficient", not 'you are sufficient.'
Remember, 'good things come to those who wait'...Wait, what?!?