“To sin by silence when one should protest makes cowards out of men.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
I found this quote in my church bulletin’s weekly Respect Life section. Lincoln was speaking on the issue of slavery; I was thinking how we as women often sin against ourselves by silently suffering in the shackles we create for ourselves.
We suffer under the unrealistic demands we set for ourselves; appearance, possessions or accomplishments. We enslave ourselves to the expectations – real or imagined – of those around us. We become overwhelmed striving to meet needs of others, never thinking to take care of ourselves first. Yet when offered, we’ll turn down help from those we cherish because we’re afraid to ask them to meet the same standards we set for ourselves.
When we don’t acknowledge our own needs or wants, we deprive our loved ones of the joy that comes from service to others. When we never allow others to help us to the best of their abilities, they never learn to value all we do for them.
Maybe today the life we most need to respect is our own.
SO true. Great post! This is me to a “T”. This past summer I decided I needed to respect my own life and started by changing my way of eating to lose weight. I’ve lost over 60 pounds so far, but have a long way to go. Just wanted give you a shout out and let you know that I like your blog posts and I am subscribing to your blog.