Label - a classifying phrase or name applied to a person or thing, especially one that is inaccurate or restrictive.
I'm sure I've written about the word "label" before....specifically the label "widow" 🤦🏻♀️......but God, in his infinite wisdom, showed me something yesterday.....why labels can be wrong, hurtful, painful, unnecessary AND embarrassing reminders of perhaps unfortunate circumstances or poor choices. Just for the "fun" of it here are some of the labels I've been given over the years:
•Wife
•Mother
•Nanny
•Widow
•Single
•Christian
•Naive
•Democrat
•TOO Happy
•Social Butterfly
•Short
•Optimist
•Girly
•Cry Baby
•Talker....sigh....
•Storyteller
Some ARE true, perhaps all are true....some ARE hurtful and some are meant to sting when they're leveled (direct, a criticism or accusation)....and make no mistake.....they DO sting.
Yesterday, when my ultrasound tech introduced herself I had to ask her to repeat her name. Wasn't sure I heard it right.....I did ..and my response was, "Oh, how unique".....she said, "I like it"....I can't stop thinking about how she might have received my response.....I'm still thinking about it this morning.
Reminds me of the children's song:
"Oh be careful little tongue what you say
Oh be careful little tongue what you say
For the Father up above
Is looking down with love
Oh be careful little tongue what you say."
After my procedure and results her and I had conversation...she knew I was nervous...I told her I kept repeating:
"Do not be anxious for anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
She smiled and nodded.... the conversation ended....but my thoughts about our interactions did not.
I'm sure she has heard comments about her name before and I'm also pretty sure she took no offense to my "that's unique" comment.....but I can't get it out of my mind. That's conviction!
Be careful what you say little tongue....
You might say, "Wow, Dianna....that's going a bit too far." But for me....not so....
"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Ephesians 4:1-2
Live a life worthy....I take that very seriously....
When someone says, "You're such a storyteller" or "You're so naive" or "How can you be a Christian AND a Democrat"....that stings! And responses like, "Oh I was just kidding" or "I didn't mean it that way" are not magic erasers.
Be careful little tongue what you say....
Here's a label.....one that REALLY bothers me, one I'm actually ashamed of, one I hate to admit but have to and sadly, one that appears will never be expunged from my records.
Former smoker.....😣
Every time I go to a doctor they say, "So, you're a former smoker?" My response, "Yes, 30 years ago." I feel like that label is my scarlet letter. 😔
Truth - choices that we make can be forever. They don't go away just because we get older and wiser.
"Oh be careful little hands what you do
Oh be careful little hands what do you do
For the Father of above is looking down with love
Oh be careful little hands what you do"
So how does one navigate in a world that has a label for just about everything?
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:18
I can't say it better than the Word of God!
What is seen is temporary.....Google labels...there are hundreds...
if not more.....here are a few...
•Successful
•Bright
•Wealthy
•Stylish
•Talented
•Popular
•Famous
•Well connected
•Good looking
Temporary.....ALL are temporary...
So where is my hope?
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
2 Corinthians 5:17
"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—"
John 1:12
"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith..."
Galatians 3:26
CHILD OF GOD
YES! YES! YES!
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you...."
1 Peter 1:3-4
New birth....into a living hope....that will NEVER perish, spoil or fade.....
CHILD OF GOD
I can hold on to that "label"!! It's permanent! It's FOREVER!! It's honorable! It's comforting! It is EVERYTHING I need to overcome every temporary label I either seek or attempt to rid myself of in a temporary world.
I may only get 70, 80 or 90 years on this earth. But, as a child of God, I get eternity....100% guaranteed.
Eternity - infinite or unending; a state to which time has no application.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16
CHILD OF GOD
Forever....
•Short
•Optimist
•Girly
•Cry Baby
•Talker....sigh....
•Storyteller
Some ARE true, perhaps all are true....some ARE hurtful and some are meant to sting when they're leveled (direct, a criticism or accusation)....and make no mistake.....they DO sting.
Yesterday, when my ultrasound tech introduced herself I had to ask her to repeat her name. Wasn't sure I heard it right.....I did ..and my response was, "Oh, how unique".....she said, "I like it"....I can't stop thinking about how she might have received my response.....I'm still thinking about it this morning.
Reminds me of the children's song:
"Oh be careful little tongue what you say
Oh be careful little tongue what you say
For the Father up above
Is looking down with love
Oh be careful little tongue what you say."
After my procedure and results her and I had conversation...she knew I was nervous...I told her I kept repeating:
"Do not be anxious for anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
She smiled and nodded.... the conversation ended....but my thoughts about our interactions did not.
I'm sure she has heard comments about her name before and I'm also pretty sure she took no offense to my "that's unique" comment.....but I can't get it out of my mind. That's conviction!
Be careful what you say little tongue....
You might say, "Wow, Dianna....that's going a bit too far." But for me....not so....
"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Ephesians 4:1-2
Live a life worthy....I take that very seriously....
When someone says, "You're such a storyteller" or "You're so naive" or "How can you be a Christian AND a Democrat"....that stings! And responses like, "Oh I was just kidding" or "I didn't mean it that way" are not magic erasers.
Be careful little tongue what you say....
Here's a label.....one that REALLY bothers me, one I'm actually ashamed of, one I hate to admit but have to and sadly, one that appears will never be expunged from my records.
Former smoker.....😣
Every time I go to a doctor they say, "So, you're a former smoker?" My response, "Yes, 30 years ago." I feel like that label is my scarlet letter. 😔
Truth - choices that we make can be forever. They don't go away just because we get older and wiser.
"Oh be careful little hands what you do
Oh be careful little hands what do you do
For the Father of above is looking down with love
Oh be careful little hands what you do"
So how does one navigate in a world that has a label for just about everything?
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:18
I can't say it better than the Word of God!
What is seen is temporary.....Google labels...there are hundreds...
if not more.....here are a few...
•Successful
•Bright
•Wealthy
•Stylish
•Talented
•Popular
•Famous
•Well connected
•Good looking
Temporary.....ALL are temporary...
So where is my hope?
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
2 Corinthians 5:17
"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—"
John 1:12
"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith..."
Galatians 3:26
CHILD OF GOD
YES! YES! YES!
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you...."
1 Peter 1:3-4
New birth....into a living hope....that will NEVER perish, spoil or fade.....
CHILD OF GOD
I can hold on to that "label"!! It's permanent! It's FOREVER!! It's honorable! It's comforting! It is EVERYTHING I need to overcome every temporary label I either seek or attempt to rid myself of in a temporary world.
I may only get 70, 80 or 90 years on this earth. But, as a child of God, I get eternity....100% guaranteed.
Eternity - infinite or unending; a state to which time has no application.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16
CHILD OF GOD
Forever....
No comments:
Post a Comment