Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

Day Eleven: Self-Protection

“But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.” (Psalms 3:3 NIV)

W hen I was a kid, there was a little ditty we would sing to deflect verbal abuse from other children. I can’t even remember where I learned it, but everyone knew it. If another kid tried to hurt you with their words we'd sing, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." The message is that my body is vulnerable to physical attacks, but my heart is shielded so you can't wound me with your words. It starts very early for all of us. Innocence is replaced with a wall of self- protection. We learn to guard ourselves from possible pain. It's what everyone does, we're told. It's how you survive in this world. The problem is that it doesn't work. Hurtful words spoken to us have a way of embedding themselves into our inner world. They fly right past the wall we've built and get stuck in our mind. The words from those we care about cause the greatest damage. It's remarkable how long these words continue to affect us, define us. In our wholeness ministries, I've heard literally hundreds repeat phrases spoken to them from ten, twenty, thirty, even forty or fifty years ago. People say, time heals all things...not true. These words can have the power to shape our future. The casualty is a lack of relational closeness. In our effort to protect ourselves we create distance from everyone around us.

Some have said that when Adam and Eve sinned their relationship with God was lost. I don't believe that to be true.