I recently watched an episode of “Iyanla Fix My Life,” and something occurred to me. Whenever most people are presented with the truth about themselves, they immediately become defensive. In episode after episode of her show, I have watched people squirm, leave the room, or storm off in anger whenever Iyanla points out something in their character they need to take responsibility for. Why is this? One of the things Iyanla says in her intro is, you have to “do the work!” She proclaims that she “did her work” and because of this, she was able to find purpose and clarity to the lessons life was trying to teach her.
Why is it so hard for people to do self-reflection? One reason may be that people perceive analyzing one’s self as a sign of weakness. Recognizing our shortcomings is not a sign of weakness. To the contrary, it is a sign that we recognize that we don’t have it all together. It says that because I am breathing in and out, chances are there are some things that I need to work on about myself that can only serve to illuminate the qualities that God really wants the world to see in me.
It is so much easier to find the flaws and imperfections in other people than to seek them out in ourselves. What would a person do with the knowledge that they may be jealous, selfish, arrogant, impatient, lazy, a procrastinator, a promise-breaker, and such? How could knowing that about myself help me? Well, the more we know, the more we are able to take the necessary steps to make adjustments and self-corrections. Behind that jealousy, is a scared little boy who never quite felt capable and smart. Behind that selfishness, is a little girl who grew up never feeling as though she had much. Her only way to survive was to hold on to things for fear of losing the little she did have.
As Christians, if we are not able to do self-corrections, how can we then allow God to make the necessary changes in our lives? The Bible tells us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due season. The word humble is defined as, “conscious of one’s failings; unpretentious; lowly.” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/humble
You see, it is so important that we are aware of our own shortcomings and submit those shortcomings to God. Only then can God exalt us to walk in our destiny. If we don’t do the personal work on ourselves, when opportunities present themselves for us to walk into our destiny, we will be ill prepared to handle the rigors that go along with that destiny.
Once we learn how to recognize the things that may be holding us back, we can then do the necessary things to rectify those hindrances and begin to do the work toward becoming a person of beauty, walking into our destiny. Only then can we be the true men and women of God we were created to be.
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Leslie Eaddy-Brooks 