Love or Hate

I have been amazed by the number of people I have talked to that told me they hate themselves! Many of those I talked to have been young people! Peer pressure has been almost unbearable for many. Many are unhappy because their bodies look nothing like those they see on TV.
Many have expressed hate of their bodies or parts of their bodies. I have also found, you don’t have long to wait until they point out the part of their bodies they feel is unattractive, or sometimes in their own words “UGLY”. It seems as though they pride themselves in showing others what they feel is their “Bad points”.
People could learn much from that always berated used car salesman. You can bet your last dollar that man will not point out any bad features of any car you’re looking at! Like that salesman, only hunt out your good points, because each time you start thinking about those features that make you unhappy and then broadcast them to the world your negative thoughts of you are not only pulling yourself down but also the world around you. Would you ever consider buying a car from a person with YOUR attitude?
Life is nothing more than a selling field and you are not only the seller, but you are also the buyer!
Before we were born God chose who he wanted us to be. He chose our mother and our father. He chose our skin color. He chose the place where we were to be born. If you’re unhappy with you, DON’T Blame God. He gave us one more gift. He gave us “our free agency” (our right to mess-up)! He gave us the right to mess-up our bodies and also our lives! Much of what we don’t like about ourselves we did to ourselves!
Don’t get me wrong, God created few of us to be fashion models or supermen. But, each of us is a child of God. Each of us is one of God’s “chosen”. Each of us is God’s “special” people. Each of us is “important” in God’s eyes, or we wouldn’t be here today.
Now, we have to ask why if God thought we were special, chosen, and important, please tell me why we don’t have those same feelings about ourselves. Why do so many of us do things that show others we have less respect for ourselves and at times we actually do things we know are hurting ourselves?
Many drink or do drugs that make them “feel good” for a short time. For each high a person knows in their heart that the high will always be followed by a low. That high is also followed by a person’s lowering of their respect for one’s self. Sometimes that high is at a terrible cost, I know I lost a son to a drunk driver.
If you smoke there is no way you can convince me that you have respect for your body or those around you! Please tell me how you feel that both your breath and your clothes smelling like a dirty ashtray can make you more attractive to those around you.
Many of the people I’ve talked to try to place the blame on others. So often I hear: “everyone else is doing it” or even “I wanted them to love me” or just “I wanted to be accepted”. Strangely I heard many of those same excuses from the prisoners during my prison ministry! You have to remember it is ALWAYS you who opens the window of opportunity for the disapproval of oneself to enter your thoughts. Quit concentrating on your bad points. Without you bringing them up I’m sure no one else would ever notice. Set a standard for yourself, then every month or so raise the bar.
God created you the way He wanted you to be. Don’t go through the rest of your life trying to mess-up His wonderful creation. Friendships were created to improve each person’s standards, not to lower them. We show our friendship by keeping our standards high; this gives our friends someone to look up to. Be someone they’re proud to know. Let them raise their standards to yours not lower your standards to theirs. Love or hate the choice is up to you.