This morning my sweet Miss Neenee said,

“I wish we were writing this week.” (at school)

 I got all excited, just thinking, my Miss Neenee might actually love to write her thoughts down, as I do.  I said,

“You have notebooks in your room.  If you have something in your head, write it down. 

I always have & look how great my life has turned out.” 

Of course I was being factious.  However, I think she takes the opportunity to cash in on my craziness any chance she gets.  So, she busted out laughing.  Hmmmm…someone that was thin skinned, might have taken her laughter the wrong way.  Someone with any ounce of feelings at all might have had them hurt.  Someone who had any confidence in their life leading up to that time, might have been a bit miffed at this laughter.  However, I knew what she meant.  She lives around me all the time & knows what a grandiose lifestyle I live.  Along with all the awesomeness in the world oozing out of me at all times.  A spectacular life any & everyone would love to have. (You may also bust out in hysterical laughing right now, too.)  Yeah, it’s not like that at’all.  Her reaction reminds me, I can’t & should not ever take myself too seriously.

When we start to take ourselves too seriously, there are all kinds of things that can happen.

For one, you may start to thinking you can do things on your own.  Without the Lord.  It’s easy to get so caught up in the world that you forget to pray or neglect studying your Bible.

James 5:16 (NKJV)  Confess your trespasses^[a] to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

 However, once a person puts simple things like that to the side, it does not take long to reach the point you are out in the world trying to do everything on your own.  Common sense is not a flower that grows in everybody’s garden, but we know better than to let the world creep in on us.  We have to make sure we are daily keeping in contact with the Lord, through prayer & Bible study.  If not, just know it won’t be long until we start thinking we don’t need God.  And heavens knows that’s a dead end road.

Another thing to remember life is just a vapor.  Meaning life is short.

James 4 :14 (NKJV) whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  

Who has time or the want to to run around being a pain to everybody constantly?  Wait, before you answer that, I realize those people are out there.  But, you don’t want to be one.  If I take myself too seriously, I might just spit & spat at others all the time.  Because, hey, it’s ok just to be rude & act on every feeling I have.  If I feel bad everybody needs to know.  If somebody makes me mad, well, I need to let them have it right then & there.  My feelings, ugly or pretty, needs to be on my shoulders at all times. You know,  I am keeping it real & this is who I really am.  Not a fake.

“Lawdy chile, you know better than that!” 

That ain’t no way to act.  People like that can drain the life right out of you.  They can take the friendly out of you right quick.  Don’t hang around folks like that.  Better yet, don’t be one of them.  Be kind.  At the end of your time, you want to be proud of the person you were.   Don’t get so caught up in yourself that you forget, there is a whole world of people living around you.  A world putting up with you, whether good or bad.

When my oldest & middle daughters were little, the younger one would tell my oldest daughter,

“You think you are so popular!”

This was in a hissy fit of being bossed around by her older sister.  This was her way of saying, “what makes you so special that you can tell me what to do?”  We laugh about these little arguments they had, which sometimes were quite frequently.  However, people get to being too “popular” when they don’t consider the feelings of others.  If you take yourself too seriously, you can begin to think you have the right to tell others what to do & to treat them without consideration.  Thankfully, I have a daughter, that without trying, reminds me not to get too ahead of myself.  And I pray that if I ever get to thinking I am too important, she or someone will love me enough to set me straight.

Thank you for coming by to visit with me today.  I hope you make it a habit to laugh at yourself.  If not, you might want to give it try.  It will help you more than you realize.  You take care of yourself.  Because I would miss you if you didn’t stop by!  As for me, I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credit: lifeisaprayer.com, mission venture ministries