Dealing with others

"People aren't against you; they are for themselves."
Wow.
Go back and read that again.
And you wanna know something cool? Today, I went to a split session about "Dealing with difficult people" and the speaker spoke about how sometimes when someone gets mad at you, it's really not a about you at all. Which also kinda blew my mind a little, because most times that is so true.
Often times people don't like what you represent or what/who you remind them of. Not exactly the same thing, but kind of along those lines.
Anyways, back to the quote. Ever have one of those days where you think the whole world is out to get you? It's easy to feel like that, and I find myself believing that lie quite often. But think about it...can you honestly say, "I really don't like (insert name of a person here)" Or would a more honest statement be..."I wish I was doing what so and so is doing" or "I wish I was as pretty as them" or "I really wish they had noticed/chosen me" My senior year of high school I realized that whenever I would talk about someone or bad mouth someone, usually at the root of it all, I was jealous of them. They were prettier than me, they had what I wanted, they got more attention than I did. Are you seeing the common denominator here? It's me. I'm selfish. My mom always used to tell me, "People won't remember what you wore last week because people are too worried about themselves." And the older I get the truer...truer? Is that a word? The more true that statement becomes. So next time your "enemy" gets that promotion, or that boyfriend, or that new car. Don't think it's because they want to one up you, or because they can't stand you. Its really because they are looking out for their # 1. Themselves. You do it too, before you get all high and mighty on me. Which brings me to next and final point, (three points and a poem, I am a Baptist my dear readers. ;) REALITY CHECK! Who should be number one in your life? Definitely not yourself! It should be the Lord. This is something I struggle with daily, the Bible says in Proverbs 16:18, Pride goeth before a fall. Better watch that, The Lord is not slack concerning His promises. And pride is such a deadly sin, it eats away at you and corrodes your heart until you're so consumed with yourself you lose sight of the One who loves you so very much. And often we are so full of ourselves we forget that people may not even have a problem with us! We just think we are the center of our own universe, so everything and everyone must be against us. It may not be *you* that they are against, it might be what you stand for, or what you remind them of. Don't take everything so personally. It really is not all about you. So...to sum it all up. "People aren't against you; they are for themselves." Think about that next time you want to rain on someone's parade, or the next time your parade gets rained on. Do a little soul searching and a little reality checking. And then like my parents always tell me, LET. IT. GO. (Man, that's a good phrase, someone should write a song about it ;)
Just a thought. :)