Our worst critic.

I saw this nifty quote drifting around facebook and just knew it was the motivation I needed to write a post.  I have been thinking lately about how hard we are on ourselves.  We are truly our own worst critics.

Maybe it's negative self talk about how you parent, the way you look, how you perform at something or things you have done in the past that you regret.  No matter what it is, we have a tendency to get excruciatingly down on ourselves.  I know I call myself stupid or retarded when I do something foolish.  It can sometimes be something as simple as dropping something or burning the toast.  Stupid?  Retarded?  Did I really deserve that?

Think about how you would feel if someone else was as hard on you as you are on yourself?  Perhaps you have had one of those critics in your life.  I hope you don't, but most us of know that it hurts pretty bad if someone calls you (or makes you feel) stupid, ugly or unworthy.

Just like the quote above, we do compare our own lives to others.  I don't care who you are, if you are human, you've done this before.  When I find myself comparing my life to someone elses, it's almost always someone that I don't know intimately.  I only see their "highlight reel".  I don't get to see all the imperfections, the drama or hear their own nasty self talk.  I don't know if the husband brings his wife breakfast in bed every morning like I imagine he MUST.  I don't know if those perfectly behaved children turn into demons the second they walk through the front doors of their own house.  I don't know if their finances are or are not in shambles because they couldn't resist the temptation to keep up with the Joneses. 

Or what about when I've compared my life to someone elses and thought about how much better my life is than theirs...that's not very nice.  Humans I tell ya.  Often times, we can be pretty self centered and mean.  Often times we don't want to admit it, but it is a reality that all of us face.  Some more than others. 

In the book of Obadiah, God gave the people of Edom a warning.  In Obadiah 1:12, God said "You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble."   God goes on to warn the people that they will judged as they have judged others.  The same holds true for us today.  We don't have the right to judge ourselves or others. 

There is absolutely no use or gain in comparing our own lives to others. It will only lead to feelings of inferiority or superiority, both of which can turn in to some pretty nasty personality traits.  Not to mention that comparing ourselves isn't fair to either party.  We are either cutting ourselves down and putting someone else on a pedestal or vice versa.  No one except God alone deserves to be put on a pedestal.  No one can live up to it.

Let's face reality.  We are all human, which means that we are imperfectly perfect.  Just the way God made us.  If you are following God's lead, you are living WITH and exactly WHAT He planned for you.  Don't be hatin' on and comparing yourself or others.  We must catch ourselves in those moments and remember this:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139: 13-16