It stands to reason that I would have a trial in relation to personal self worth, so soon after I proclaimed to the world that I have value, and that I know I have value. Every time I have re-affirmed this to myself, it has been tested. Why is that?
I believe it is because of what I have come to know as "Dot People." Follow me for a moment as I get a little bit religious. When our parents, Adam and Eve first came to this planet, there was someone waiting for them. Someone without a body, determined to destroy everything good. That person and his followers are still here. They are still attempting to destroy everything good, and they whisper thoughts, images and conversations into our heads that, if we listen and heed them, can influence our actions. They say things like,"You're not pretty enough to pull off that look," and "You'll never reach your goals. That works for other people, but not you." Sometimes it's even in the first person, if they've stuck around long enough, "I'm so chubby," or "I can't do this."
Whatever we speak, write, or decree, even if it's just with our body language, they see and hear. So when we declare over a pulpit, in front of 200 people, that we know that we have value, they devise a plan to convince us otherwise. If they can't get to us directly, if our guard and our knowledge is fortified and strong, the "Dot People" go through people we know and love. They whisper our weaknesses into other people's ears, and the other people will say them to us. Watch - you'll see it too.
Start writing down what they say to you. Defend yourself against it by writing just the opposite. Once you have mastered that, Watch. You'll start to hear things from those people around you that you have already learned aren't true. Then, go to your positive writings and remember the truth. Remember that you do have value. Remember that you are beautiful, smart and worth it.
Watch. Watch the difference.
Here is a copy of what I told those 200 people.
Well, I was accepted into the BA program! Hooray! I am very VERY excited about all the new opportunities that are coming my way as I embark on this new chapter of my life. This Wednesday, we are putting our condo on the market, and will make enough money after the sale to completely pay off our school loans. I am continuing to eat clean, and make up for the mistakes I made in my diet along the way. Getting fit is hard, and I have accepted that, because I can do hard things. What's worth the prize is always worth the fight.
Speaking of worth, this week I have been reflecting on self-worth. I learned, just a year and a half ago, that I have value - that I have worth. By virtue of the fact that I have a soul - I have amazing and endless potential. I was thinking this morning of a chapter in the book, Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo.
An "unfortunate man," as Hugo puts is, is the subject of the story. Truly, misfortune has been this man's ally and close friend during the most recent decades of his life. Before his fate turned, he was a poor, honest man, who was trying to make a living, just like everyone else. As time passed, his situation and that of his family became more desperate. Eventually, sapped of any funds and assets they once had, the family was on the brink of starvation. To save the life of his starving sister and her small children, our hero, driven by desperation, shattered a glass window pane and snatched just one loaf of bread before fleeing. For this crime, Jean Valjean was imprisoned and subjected to slave labor for the better part of two decades. Upon his probationary release, he found that he had no friends or family to give him food and shelter. Finding it difficult as a convict to find anyone sympathetic to his needs, he sought asylum in a small church. There he was received, albeit cautiously by some, with food, shelter, and a warm bed, though he had not rested his head to a pillow in twenty years, and the sensation was unfamiliar to him.
The Bishop of the church showed the man kindness, benevolence and even respect, even though and possibly especially because his outward appearance placed him in the lowest of stations. The Bishop showed in a small way, that he knew that this ragged, unfortunate man had value - he had worth.
Now here's where the story gets good. To show his gratitude to the bishop and to the rest of the members of the church, who had imparted of their substance in a community where perhaps no one else would have given this man a second thought, Jean Valjean devised a plan. He awoke from his slumber in the middle of the night, possibly because his body was used to sleeping on the cold hard ground instead of on a mattress with linens, and possibly again out of sheer desperation. With stealth and distrust, he entered the bedroom of the bishop while he slept, and bludgeoned him over the head, rendering the clergyman ignorant of any of the proceedings. From there, Valjean removed himself to the kitchen, where he proceeded to take the silver plates, goblets and utensils, from which he had been served his supper a few hours before. His new bounty in hand he fled under the cover of night. Intending to begin his life anew, yet at the same token, perpetuating a dishonest life his desire was to sell the silver and subsist on the revenue. However, before he could do so, he was seized upon by representatives of the law, who, when they say the poor wretched man with inordinate amounts of silver, questioned him, and returned him in hand to the church. He had told his captors that the bishop had given him the appropriated silver. When the men returned with Valjean to the church, the women, seeing the silver rejoiced, for that which was lost had been found. But they missed something the Bishop saw. He, still bearing the wounds from the nights encounter, too rejoiced for that which was lost, having been found. Not the silver, but the soul. Valjean's fictional story of the bishops benevolence was repeated from the gendearm's mouths to the bishops ears. The bishop denied not a word, but with great thought and love for the man, went to the mantle piece whereupon sat two silver candlesticks. "My friend," resumed the Bishop, "before you go, here are your candlesticks. Take them." Valjean accepted the candlesticks with a bewildered air. The Bishop drew near to him, and said in a low voice:—
Just as the bishop in this magnificent story of love, and forgiveness, bought Valjeans soul, so we too have been bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:20 "For ye area bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s."
Elder Holland talk, "Of Souls, Symbols and Sacraments," emphasizes this point.
"The purchase price for our fullness of joy body and spirit eternally united is the pure and innocent blood of the Savior of this world. We cannot then say in ignorance or defiance, Well, it's my life, or worse yet, It's my body. It is not. "Ye are not your own," Paul said. "Ye are bought with a price."
What was the price paid for our souls?
1 Peter 1:19 " ...the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20a Who verily was b foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
a purified your b souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned c love of the brethren, see that yed love one another with a pure heart fervently:"
God and our Savior's love for us is unchaging, and deeper than we can ever fathom. Jesus Christ, our brother and savoir suffered, even unto death, for us. He loves us. He loves you. I know, that if I had been the only other person to ever be born on the planet, the Savoir would still have atoned for my sins, making it possible for me to return to live with my Heavenly Father. The same is true for each of us! Just think! He would have and did atone for each of us personally. If there had been no one else, he still would have done it. Such is the worth of our souls.
Speaking of worth, this week I have been reflecting on self-worth. I learned, just a year and a half ago, that I have value - that I have worth. By virtue of the fact that I have a soul - I have amazing and endless potential. I was thinking this morning of a chapter in the book, Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo.
An "unfortunate man," as Hugo puts is, is the subject of the story. Truly, misfortune has been this man's ally and close friend during the most recent decades of his life. Before his fate turned, he was a poor, honest man, who was trying to make a living, just like everyone else. As time passed, his situation and that of his family became more desperate. Eventually, sapped of any funds and assets they once had, the family was on the brink of starvation. To save the life of his starving sister and her small children, our hero, driven by desperation, shattered a glass window pane and snatched just one loaf of bread before fleeing. For this crime, Jean Valjean was imprisoned and subjected to slave labor for the better part of two decades. Upon his probationary release, he found that he had no friends or family to give him food and shelter. Finding it difficult as a convict to find anyone sympathetic to his needs, he sought asylum in a small church. There he was received, albeit cautiously by some, with food, shelter, and a warm bed, though he had not rested his head to a pillow in twenty years, and the sensation was unfamiliar to him.
The Bishop of the church showed the man kindness, benevolence and even respect, even though and possibly especially because his outward appearance placed him in the lowest of stations. The Bishop showed in a small way, that he knew that this ragged, unfortunate man had value - he had worth.
Now here's where the story gets good. To show his gratitude to the bishop and to the rest of the members of the church, who had imparted of their substance in a community where perhaps no one else would have given this man a second thought, Jean Valjean devised a plan. He awoke from his slumber in the middle of the night, possibly because his body was used to sleeping on the cold hard ground instead of on a mattress with linens, and possibly again out of sheer desperation. With stealth and distrust, he entered the bedroom of the bishop while he slept, and bludgeoned him over the head, rendering the clergyman ignorant of any of the proceedings. From there, Valjean removed himself to the kitchen, where he proceeded to take the silver plates, goblets and utensils, from which he had been served his supper a few hours before. His new bounty in hand he fled under the cover of night. Intending to begin his life anew, yet at the same token, perpetuating a dishonest life his desire was to sell the silver and subsist on the revenue. However, before he could do so, he was seized upon by representatives of the law, who, when they say the poor wretched man with inordinate amounts of silver, questioned him, and returned him in hand to the church. He had told his captors that the bishop had given him the appropriated silver. When the men returned with Valjean to the church, the women, seeing the silver rejoiced, for that which was lost had been found. But they missed something the Bishop saw. He, still bearing the wounds from the nights encounter, too rejoiced for that which was lost, having been found. Not the silver, but the soul. Valjean's fictional story of the bishops benevolence was repeated from the gendearm's mouths to the bishops ears. The bishop denied not a word, but with great thought and love for the man, went to the mantle piece whereupon sat two silver candlesticks. "My friend," resumed the Bishop, "before you go, here are your candlesticks. Take them." Valjean accepted the candlesticks with a bewildered air. The Bishop drew near to him, and said in a low voice:—
"Do not forget, never forget, that you have promised to use this money in becoming an honest man."
Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of ever having promised anything, remained speechless. The Bishop had emphasized the words when he uttered them. He resumed with solemnity:— "Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God."Just as the bishop in this magnificent story of love, and forgiveness, bought Valjeans soul, so we too have been bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:20 "For ye are
Elder Holland talk, "Of Souls, Symbols and Sacraments," emphasizes this point.
"The purchase price for our fullness of joy body and spirit eternally united is the pure and innocent blood of the Savior of this world. We cannot then say in ignorance or defiance, Well, it's my life, or worse yet, It's my body. It is not. "Ye are not your own," Paul said. "Ye are bought with a price."
What was the price paid for our souls?
1 Peter 1:19 " ...the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him a glory; that your b faith and c hope might be in God.
22 Seeing ye have God and our Savior's love for us is unchaging, and deeper than we can ever fathom. Jesus Christ, our brother and savoir suffered, even unto death, for us. He loves us. He loves you. I know, that if I had been the only other person to ever be born on the planet, the Savoir would still have atoned for my sins, making it possible for me to return to live with my Heavenly Father. The same is true for each of us! Just think! He would have and did atone for each of us personally. If there had been no one else, he still would have done it. Such is the worth of our souls.
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