The ugly duckling
Went to her wedding to be a swan
But swans amongst ducklings
Don’t hold much interest you see
And being what you’re not doesn’t make you happy & free.
The reflection was always muddy
The beautiful in another place and time
The duck had surgery
But the look, the being
Was something unnatural, a horrible crime
And as the duck looked back
To see her own type
She pondered her situation and why she had had a grip
But some things may change forever
It starts as a choice of the subconscious mind
The way we think
And God could not help the duck
She could see but really she was blind.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
That beauty only comes from accepting your own skin
He gives you the material
But the tone, the mood, the presentation, the attitude
Is all yours to make to ensure your presentation to another is not shallow or fake
And knowing God never makes a mistake.
The ideas, self-talk may cripple our walk with God. The self focus others will notice and in trying so hard to be another
we fail to show our beautiful selves to others.
Many of us have an identity crisis and with it, self-esteem problem (it can be from our sin or from the sin of others), and as more families fracture and abuse increases, so do the number of people facing these issues. It could well be a gripe carried that blames parents and takes the beauty of character from life. There can be as a result little trust in others (suspicion), blaming and finger-pointing which is baggage carried into adult life. Suspicion when part of the character must be separated from our characters if we are to enter the realm and physical realm of heaven.
If we all are not born natural Christians then there is some behavior correction to be done by all with sympathy for others as we contemplate our own shortcomings but sin can make us foolishly blind to where we at.
Suspicion demoralizes, producing the very evils it seeks to prevent and it deprives a person of spirit (a spirit of good thoughts and feelings that God would have us carry), courage, destroying the morale often by a continuous barrage from misunderstanding, or proceeding from exaggeration or partial disclosure of facts. If suspicion is realized think of the opportunity, grace, and positive trust that you wish to receive from God that should be solicited to others.
With others, real love is needed. Should a brother go astray treat him as a confidential friend, with love and correction, it is the time to show your real interest in him. Go to him with kindness, praying with and for him, remembering the infinite price which Christ has paid for his redemption. In this way you may save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins. {CCh 174.4}
While men more often participate in open aggression, women more often engage in subtle sabotage by gossip, showing the nature of man to destroy himself rather than to uplift a brother or sister. This is the nature of the problem- destroying self and one another. Christ has called us to a higher standard than this which caters not to those that will visit you to whom you return hospitality but to seek the lost souls and by restoring faith by the faith you place in others.
Opportunities given to others to restore confidence in themselves, maybe the very thing that allows them to kick the goals they were not able to achieve and so the opposite might also be said. More often suspicion and discouragement are seen amongst us by which Christ is unable to manifest Himself to us.
Then what might be the key to the family on earth and therefore the family in heaven, radiating from within out to those around us? How has the moral law in your heart and mine become alive in love for one another? Philippians says esteeming others better than ourselves, and restoring confidence and identity in whom they can be in Christ.
Quotes worth repeating often, particularly before we associate with others-
We must learn to place the best possible construction upon doubtful conduct of others. . . . If we are ever suspecting evil we are in danger of creating what we allow ourselves to suspect. . . . We cannot pass along without sometimes having our feelings hurt and our temper tried, but as Christians we must be just as patient, forbearing, humble, and meek as we desire others to be. Oh, how many thousand good acts and deeds of kindness that we receive . . . pass from the mind like dew before the sun, while imaginary or real injury leaves an impression which it is next to impossible to efface! The very best example to give to others is to be right ourselves, and then leave ourselves, our reputation, with God and not show too great anxiety to right every wrong impression and present our case in a favorable light. . . . {OHC 237.2}
The neglect to cultivate tender consideration and forbearance for one another has caused dissension, distrust, faultfinding, and general disunion. God . . . calls upon us to put away this great sin and to strive to answer the prayer of Christ that His disciples may be one as He is one with the Father. . . . It is the special work of Satan to cause dissension, . . . that the world should be deprived of the most powerful testimony Christians can give it that God has sent His Son to bring into harmony turbulent, proud, envious, jealous, bigoted minds. . . . {OHC 237.3}