Who we think we are

Who we think we are, is often not at all who we really are. I think more than anything else we see who we'd like to be. I once had a friend of mine whom was well educated, tell me this quote. It went something like this. ''You're not who you think you are, You're not who others think you are, But you're who you think others think you are"". Now mind you I had a lot of trouble letting that sink in my brain and understanding it. But when we have personal weaknesses, we often think others can see right through us. Our self portrait in fact is blurred. We think we understand ourselves, but the real us is still hiding behind the same blurred vision to see ourselves only as we want to see ourselves.

Let me give you an example. These two men are real persons, both elderly, and this is my view of both people. There's a business in town that I frequent. This business has many employees. There are two men that I guess you could say work the front, where they are in contact with the public. I do want to bring to your attention that both men claim to be Christians and go to church.

Now man #1. we'll call him smiley, He's always got a smile on his face. Always has a nice word to say. But he never mentions being a Christian 'persay'. He always tries to please the customers, and poor old guy, he hurries the best he can. The last words he will say to you is"have a blessed day" He's the type of person that just makes you feel good, if you know what I mean. But he never thinks of himself too highly, He's just a good old soul.

OK, so on to #2 man we'll call him, not so smiley. Ok, so he's like this, smileless, he tells all about his church, his Christian life. While ignoring your request not to overfill your bags. He's always telling everyone that any tips he gets will be donated to the church. He goes sooooooo, slooooow, as if saying I really don't care whether I get this done or not. And because I complained to him about how he filled my bags, he holds the grudge, like nobodies business. OK, so he thinks of himself and a good person, and in fact brags on himself as a Christian.

You see smiley, doesn't see himself as that great a person, while not so smiley thinks himself tops.

I really do NOT want to know what people really think of me, I have way too many flaws. There's only one man who was born on this earth who was perfect. Jesus Christ. The rest of us are mishaps from the first Adam's sin. We all have sinned, we all do things we don't want others to know about. There is no perfect human person. Most times, truly, I think I'm at the bottom of the apple barren, well rotted while others smell the obfensive fumes.

God bless and remember, Whatever you may think of yourself, God knows the real you.