Our Divine Nature and the Tigger Effect!

Many years ago I saw an episode of Winnie the Pooh. In this particular show, Tigger had lost his stripes. WIthout his stripes he thought he was no longer tigger. He went around trying to figure out what he was now... a rabbit?...no.  A Kanga?... no, on and on it went. His friends tried to convince him he was still a tigger, He still could bounce like tigger, he sounded like tigger....but without the visable stripes he couldn't be convinced.  Tigger had to  Iearn all by himself, that he had never stopped being tigger.

 I  walked away from watching that show with 2 questions for myself:

 1) How many times do I let myself feel less than what I am: "A beautiful daughter of a loving God" because of my appearance, or my obvious failures, of lack of any obvious talents, etc.  and yet all our friends and family can't convince us we are still a beautiful daughter of a loving God. We can spend time putting our selves down, spinning our wheels, getting in our own way.. and it changes NOTHING about the fact that you are STILL a beautiful child  of a loving God. No one else can make you believe this. Only each of us can do the work to figure that out. DON"T SPEND  ONE MORE DAY trying to be something you are not, or  treating yourself in a way you would NEVER let yourself treat someone else! Do as I say.. not as I do.. this one is a work in progress...

2) How often do I see others for less than they are: A beautiful son or daughter of a loving God? Maybe based on their appearance, lifestyle, religion, life choices.. sometimes we overlook people, judge them without knowledge of their true circumstances (Social media sure makes this easy).. I still don't know exactly how to spot the ways in which I may be dismissing people in my mind and heart as one that surely God loves less than the "rest" of us.. but I have a desire and prayer to know. I strive every day to do acts of small kindnesses ,even a smile to everyone I see.  This one will be a work in progress too.

I must run.. my stripes are missing  and I must go find them!