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Today has been rough. I failed to live up to the expectations of multiple people.
One lady let me know several times exactly how disappointed she was in me. She was Exhibit A in the lineup of travel agents for guilt trips. If she wasn't my elder, I may have gotten mouthy with her, but I kept myself polite on the surface.
Another woman blamed me for her own clumsiness, then tried to school me on how to run my business. I declined to take the blame, though I did wish her well even when I didn't want to.
My kids have had expectations that I'm struggling to meet. It's work I should have done weeks ago. We've reached the point it has to be done now.
I place expectations on myself every day that I can't meet.
All this and more contributes to my being tempted to feel like a failure.
I'm not a failure.
I know that, and I'm talking to myself through all this. That plus praying for a right perspective.
It's no wonder the Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praise-worthy. If we feed lies to our minds, we'll be poisoned and atrophied from them, causing all sorts of damage to ourselves and others.
Since that is not who I want to be, I'm refusing to wallow in the guilt that could so easily take over if I let it.
The mind is one of the biggest battlegrounds for anybody, but especially a Christian. What we feed our minds, what we think about all day, what we believe, all this effects us for good or bad.
A negative mindset is more crippling than a physical handicap.