Photoshop- Creating a false Idol

What goes into looking like a model...

Role Models

Self Esteem Test

http://www.mensselfesteem.com/take_the_self_esteem_test.html
Great test to measure your self esteem.
Asks some really good questions and gives some decent feedback.

Reputation

Depravity

Most of us think that a man with a debased mind(perverts, child molesters, voyeurs, etc.) were born with some demonic spirit. After all, they can't really be like you and me. We often ask ourselves, Who would do such a thing? without ever recognizing that but by the Grace of God, go I...


It isn't a demonic spirit that causes such a tormented mind.
Depravity comes from deprivation. Depravity comes from being deprived of love, of affection, of security, of peace, of gentleness, of truth, of justice, of mercy, and of compassion. Our young souls need to eat of the fruit of the Spirit. Without such fruit in our lives, produced by our parents, we become emotionally starved, physically anemic (especially if we were physically abused) and sexually malnurished.


Children born into such a home have to do whatever they need to do in order to survive such a toxic emotional wasteland. Most survive, by the skin of their teeth. We learn how to hide our deepest fears and needs in order to avoid being exploited.

When we grow up, we still respond to the environment the same way we did as a child because our world view, our self view has been set. It is only through the grace of God and the grace of true Community that deprivation can be overcome.

We are all helpless in meetings those love needs. There is no one person who can satisy those needs in their own life. NO ONE. We need love, and we need each other. Deprivation can turn to Salvation only through the willingness to Love and to be Loved.

Lessons

The lessons that God is teaching you in your life, may be as great, if not greater than the lessons you ever learned in the Sunday school or in grade school. You may never have a transcript or a graded assignment, but make no mistake that you do have a Teacher, one who is orchestrating lessons for which to build your life upon.
You may be given little money, so that you may know that money is not the root of your joy.
You may be given much money, so that you know who really owns it all.
You may live in a small apartment, so that you understand your home is not what you live in but who you live with.
You may be given a great home, so that you know the gifts of hospitality and generosity.
You may be given a great job, that you may taste the fruits of your labor.
You may be given a lousy job, that you may know that your labor is to the Lord.
You may wear last year’s garments, so that you understand your beauty comes from within.
You may wear the latest fashion, so that you know the luxury of his Grace.
You may drive a 20 year old car, so that you may know the kindness of strangers passing by.
You may drive the latest model, that you may know a taste of his Goodness.
You may have a lot of marital conflict, so that your muscles of forgiveness may be strengthened
You may have a lot of marital peace, so that you know the contentment of Love.
You may have poor health, that you may receive compassion from friends.
You may have great health, that your body may be used to praise the lord!
You may be the given the gift life, that you may know the selflessness of your Creator.
You may be given the gift of death, that you may have clarity and comfort.
You may be given deep friendships, that you know the sacrifice of community.
You may be given isolation, that you may know the sweet solace of a Savior.
You may be given spoken words from above, that you may know affirmation and direction
You may be given silence, that you may know the strength of our Lord.
You may be given action, that you may know the stirrings of the Holy Spirit
You may be given stillness, that you may know the patience of our God.
You may be given pleasure, that you know the Glory of the lord.
You may be given pain, that you know the foundations of Wisdom.
And on and on it can go for the lessons are endless…

This is not an easy journey. It is a path filled with much turmoil, refinement, and sacrifice. Don’t expect that you will be the same person at the end of this road that you are at the beginning. Allow the One who created you, to mold you.
You will need to let go of some things, and hold on to new ones.
You will need to lay down expectations of what will be, in order to
pick up the faith of what is to be.

Invisible

There comes a time in a man's life
when he feels invisible...
A shadow of the person he used to be
A vapor of the man who once was
Overlooked in his job
Enveloped by a Honey-To Do list
Hidden behind his wallet to his children
Camoflauged in the church pew

He has been stricken to be a soul begging on the street,
his own street,
desperately wanting to be seen by another,
a penny for a stranger?
food for the starving?
and water for the dying?


There comes a time in a man's life
when he feels invisible
a shadow of the ideal man
fallen short of the mainstream
never looked beyond the color of his skin
enveloped by fear, prejudice, and the desire to win
smothered by those in power and might

He has been stricken to be a soul begging on the street,
his own street,
desperately wanting to be seen by another,
a penny for a stranger?
food for the starving?
and water for the dying?

There comes a time in a man's life
when he feels invisible
rejected by his peers for the struggle within
held at arms length for his brotherly longings
condemned to hell by the places of "hope"
abandoned by family and pseudo friends

He has been stricken to be a soul begging on the street,
his own street,
desperately wanting to be seen by another,
a penny for a stranger?
food for the starving?
and water for the dying?

There comes a time in a man's life
when he feels invisible
hidden behind a frock, a uniform,a robe
dismissed for his beliefs and perfection's persona
isolated from his brother sheep
believed to be a man of God who doesn't need one

He has been stricken to be a soul begging on the street,
his own street,
desperately wanting to be seen by another,
a penny for a stranger?
food for the starving?
and water for the dying?

Loneliness

"We are lonely for many things: We ware lonely for more love and communication, more unity, and understanding, than we have at present. We are longing and restless for a wholeness we do not yet possess. We are tormented by feelings of insatiability, thirsting constantly, want to know more people, wanting to be known by more people, wanting to be more places, and wanting to ber "where it is at," in every sense of that cliche.We are frustrated because our relationships are too frequently fraught with ambiguity and misunderstanding, with pettiness and betrayal. We feel empty and incomplete because we are missing out on so much of life, constantly living at the fringes,as through a glass, darkly, away from the action, unable to completely sort through the riddle of life, at the door without a key, unable to fully enter. We feel nostalgia and death as precious friends and precious moments leave us, never to return, as youth and fullness slowly leave our bodies, as the clock ticks away and we lose so much of what we had. We feel both agony and ecstacy in our loneliness as we experience both the tension that makes for life and the loss that makes for death."
From the Book "The Restless Heart: Finding our spiritual home in a time of loneliness" by Ronald Rolheiser

I see the face of Jesus in you
I hear him in your voice.
You cause the Jesus to rise up in me,
his compassion to overflow
his mercy to well up
his love to pour out
and his grace to subdue.
I see the face of Jesus in you,
I hear him in your cries.
You cause the Jesus to rise up in me,
his courage to overcome,
his truth to free,
his paitience to wait
and his joy to release.
I see the face of Jesus in you,
I hear him in your pleas.
You cause the the Jesus to rise up in me,
the man of sorrows,
the son of man
the scorned and hated one
I see.