Life Note 4. Reputation vs. Character

Reputation vs. Character: Weighing Connections Often times we get so caught up in building our reputations that we forget about the accountability of our character. It is said that character is determined by how you treat people who can do nothing for you. In other words you are only as good as how you treat people, especially those who can't contribute to your life. Everyone wants to be "somebody", we're almost always partially content with who we are today -our main focus is our next level, our bigger picture. Its easy to get lost and forget about those things that matter most, like relationships, family, and sometimes even our friendships. We ignore, disown, or mistreat those people who we view as people who aren't on our levels, in a sense, putting them on a shelf like a book to keep busy with when we have spare time. While on the other hand we treat our new connections as royalty and place them on a throne. We run to them when they need us or when they want to do something we're always available; but when there's a need In our relationships (our more personal connections) we're always busy, or we have something to do -because we don't want to be bothered. We build walls with our personal connections because we now feel we're better than them and because we're at a certain level in our lives we feel we have the right to disconnect. Family and friends soon become "those people" -you develop the mindset that " they no longer love me, they just love what I can do for them." Since you've acquired a new role in your life when they call they don't really want to be bothered with you, they just want what you have; you're now guarded. We're guarded with those connections who we view can't do anything for us, instead of treating them like equals because they're people, we treat them like "the help". Our character is now being stripped down by the people who are most proud of us and supportive. You're no longer viewed as dependable, lovable, and accountable... In the case of ChelCy and the character test, the results came back and determined that your accountability, your trust, your love, and affection towards all people no matter what -was a lie! For years I lived my life disregarding the people who mattered most to me. I tarnished relationships, and even broken trust because I was no longer available to those who needed me. I realized that God places people in your life for reasons and seasons. He's teaching me daily how to treat people, especially the people who can't contribute to my life. Its a blessing to be a blessing. If someone is leaning on me for help its because they view me as a resource. In their sight I'm accountable to them. When they need something I'm "that person" for them. As their resource my vision became clouded by what they were asking of me and I couldn't see that this was God presenting the opportunity to me to let them know, yes, I'm your resource, but God is your source. I disqualified myself from being their blessing by viewing them as burdens, and ultimately blocked myself from the blessings that were reserved for me because I was too self righteous. Yes my reputation had been built but I didn't realize it was crumbling because my foundation wasn't steady. My message to you is don't get so caught up in yourself and how good you're doing and forget how good you should be treating people outside of yourself. Don't weigh relationships based on clout and how much status you can attain by the connection because you're focused on your reputation (developing the mindset that since I want to be "this" I have to surround myself with these types of people.) Yes birds of a feather flock together and we are to surround ourselves with like minded people; but we're also suppose to help build up people, show them the goodness of our God and draw more souls into the kingdom. No one will follow the mold of an ugly person, no matter how pretty you may be to one person God sees it all. So to you with your well know reputation I'll tell you like I told myself... Check yourself, your character is slipping! Love, ChelCy

#lifenote4