SummerVerse

Perspective: it’s a vibe. It’s said that power reveals a person’s character, and many people attribute that idea only to the notion that you can truly see someone’s values and true desires when they are in a powerful position. It’s not that this isn’t true (rather, it has great merit on how we deal with each other), but there’s also another part to this idea that’s often overlooked. What a person makes of their situation when they don’t have power (and also don’t have the hope of “moving up” in the near future) tells a great deal of their character. Today’s entry from 2023 is about not craving power but rather craving reflection, repentance, and improvement. It’s about craving a better way of being, lead by the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Looking at why we do things is an important step in making ourselves a little better than we were yesterday. Never perfect, just doing our best to evolving into who God created us to be.

Yesterday’s entry should’ve been labeled June 8th, but I suppose that’s the casualty of picking up this adventure 3 years later. Here’s the entry from June 9, 2023.

“👟RSD 1137 ✅ Today’s Verse: “But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.”—Psalm 37:11

Meek isn’t weak, not the way we think of it—some synonyms include humble, gentile, serene, deferential, and it’s from root word meaning benevolent, gentle, humble and originally from a Norse word meaning soft or gentle. “Humble” and “gentle” seem to come up a lot in these dictionary/thesaurus sources. Humble means doing the right thing when it doesn’t benefit you (or that’s not the “thing” you necessarily “want” to do), understanding that your way might not be the best way, seeing the value in others in their contributions. 

As far as gentle—hustle culture, glow up, status, power, be hard, be a boss, be the best—none of these things is really “gentle”, but none of these things is really a bad thing (except being the best…”the” best and “your” best are two different things…you can want 1st place in a track meet, but wanting it because you want to accomplish that and wanting other people to lose are two different perspectives to the same goal…perspective: it’s a vibe)—each of these elements can help you feel great, realize your potential (natural gifts are absolutely a thing), and give you courage to accomplish more than you thought you could. And, it’s totally ok (healthy even) to be proud of yourself. But, these elements (unchecked) can each also make you take a hard turn toward vanity, toward greed, toward negativity toward others—or worse: indifference. Going ham on these things is Millennial chic right now—it’s all the rage, what all the cool kids are doing, but going ham in focusing solely on what we want, doing whatever it takes to get what we want (with consequence as an afterthought) leaves not much room for things like compassion, kindness…love even. Gentleness not only leaves room for these things: it nourishes them. To put good in the world means that meekness is part of the plan.

The world isn’t gentle. The world tells you that you have to go hard all the time or you’re failing. The world will absolutely punch you straight in the face. The world will throw an elbow to follow it up. The world isn’t gentle, so maybe we should be.”