A young girl walks through a play ground, and at every turn it seems the children who surround her pass around a stick and hit her with it. Finally in anger and tears she grabs the rod from the hands of her foes....and begins to hit herself with it, as hard if not harder than she had been hit before. Worse, she runs away with the stick still in her hand. She never tosses it away or breaks it. Instead, she hides in her room and beats herself black and blue. She carries the stick with her wherever she goes and becomes her worst abuser for years. Long after the other children have grown up and forgotten all about the day they beat her, she is continuing the assault.
Can you see it? Can you imagine this scenario? Do you read this and think the people around her should have stopped it? Do you think she is crazy? Do you realize that we are guilty of doing just what this little girl did? When we not only accept but take up the labels that others have beat us with but use them against ourselves, we are abusing ourselves with our enemy's weapon. Stupid, lazy, failure, screw up, clutz, ugly, unworthy, criminal, trash, addict....and on and on.
It's time to drop the stick. God says that we are His precious, beautiful children. He says we are fearfully and wonderfully made with something special, unique and good. He says we are valued enough to die for. Let us make a commitment label ourselves, and call ourselves nothing that God does not say about us, If it is not His description of who we are may we never define ourselves and abuse ourselves with it again.
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