A Toxic Mentality
This is a darker topic than what I usually post and will be one of only a few I add to my publication, but it’s a topic I feel compelled to share. Before getting started, I wanted to give you all a heads-up about the dark nature of the post and the mention of some potentially triggering issues.
I also need to make clear that this doesn’t apply to most Christians. Christians have a different view of the world, and while although some might say that life is beautiful, they generally don’t do so without taking into account Ephesians 6:12, 1 John 1:5-7, Genesis 3:1-19, Romans 5:12-19, Isaiah 59:2, Romans 3:23, Genesis 6:5-6, Romans 8:20-22, and Ephesians 2:1-3. This message is more for non-believers and those who are just “living their best lives,” so to speak, those who are into self-love, self-gratification, and self-worth, and those who might not think about the issues facing the rest of the world.
So, now that I’ve gotten the disclaimer out of the way let’s get started.
I want to read two quotes:
Life can be beautiful, like a rose is beautiful, when we know where to look and how to enjoy it, so long as we don’t hold the stem the wrong way.
Life is beautiful when we view it through a picturesque lens, forgoing all the things that make it ugly. We’ve done it dozens, possibly hundreds of times: took a stroll through nature, stood on a mountaintop, stopped to smell the flowers, gazed at the endless ocean, gasped at the infinite stars. For a moment, we’re breathless; we see life as something extraordinary. We shut out the rest of the world around us; we close our eyes and inhale deeply, and an incredible feeling of peace washes over us. And for a fleeting moment, we feel alive.
But then we slowly, reluctantly, open our eyes, knowing we can’t stand there forever. So, we walk away and back into the life that has never made us feel the way we felt in those moments. Because, deep down, no matter what we want to believe, how many encouraging motivational quotes we read, or who in our life somehow makes life seem beautiful, we know that at its core, “beautiful” is not quite the word for it.
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