BE PROUD or BE-LOVED

I woke up not to the familiar chirping sounds of songful birds

this morning’s dew washes my drowsy eyes to see 

something I seemed to have missed all along.

that thin fine line between good old self-esteem and everything else

shades of grey line that fades in scales to almost white

even visible across the tinted blue sky of the morning mist

clouding the shy rising sunlight but still

I see this difference in the light of my own reality

So hear a revealed truth you can trust

It matters how you see yourself

but to esteem self is treading on dangerous grounds

you think highly of yourself, you’ll puff up

like Lucifer as if another name for ‘a heart lifted up’

God's love expressed in perfect beauty lifted him so

thinking himself to be like God, scorns the love of the highest

and winds up a fallen star in the depth for the lowest.

'cause his head swelled when he looked to himself than to He who made him

It matters how you see yourself

you think low of yourself, you'll miss it too

comparing yourself to everyone else and yourself

thinking yourself to deserve better

like Lucifer as if another name for 'lying farther’

lied to himself, said he deserved a seat in the highest heaven

even far above the Most High

but fell down to the abyss into the lowest depth

It matters how you see yourself

see self-esteem wears countless masks

of different shades of grey that hues in scales to black

for 'Low' or 'High' on scale are one and the same

that’s why no one knows how many shades of grey exist

see self-esteem is too thin a line to balance on, so fall you must

and whichever side you fall on, you’ll get injured

To one, injured pride mask itself as ‘arrogance’

To another, injured pride mask itself as false ‘humility’

and say you don't fall, to steady balance is to stay self-absorbed.

It matters how you see yourself

you’ll see also that how you see others

is a reflection of how you see yourself

and self-esteem reflections are subjective

psychologists and sociologists say

it is the emotional evaluation of self-worth –

so you’ll either see yourself as beauty or the beast

depending on which side of the bed you wake

perhaps, depending where on the scale you fall

so that others become the mirror on your wall

and whichever angle you look from, you’ll get distorted

to one, distorted view mask itself as superiority complex

to another, distorted view mask itself as inferiority complex

and to get a good reflection is to stay self-centred or perplexed

It matters how you see yourself

see now, I see no place for SELF-esteem

for who could know and love me more than God

seems I should only see myself as God sees me

-     as being loved by Him

the only see-cure way to see me, to see you and everything else

so this day as it dawns on me in the ‘breaking’ of day

I ask for mercy for the light I’ve missed all along

for all along I’ve seen the worst in you as it was all I'd seen in me

but I esteem you now for I see clearly how God sees you

-      His Beloved.

Original poem by me. Photo credits: My friend R.Fulconis took this picture of a Masai girl in Kenya
Scripture reference: Isaiah 14: 12-17; Ezekiel 28: 1-19; Philippians 2:3; Romans 1:21-23