Day 75- Complacency
📖Daily Reading
Nehemiah 8-13
🎥 Video
Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.
📝 Reflection
Nehemiah 13: 6-27
I was not in Jerusalem at that time, for I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon….. When I arrived back in Jerusalem I learned about Eliashib’s evil deed….
I also discovered that the Levites had not been given their prescribed portions of food….
…In Those days I saw men of Judah treading out wine presses on the Sabbath. …. Some men from Tyre, who lived in Jerusalem, were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise. They were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah and in Jerusalem at that!….
….. About the same time I realized that some of the men of Judah had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Furthermore, half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of some other people and could not speak the language of Judah at all……
…. “Wasn’t this exactly what led King Solomon of Israel to sin?” I demanded. “There was no king from any nation who could compare to him, and God loved him and made him king over all Israel. But even he was led into sin by his foreign wives. …..
….How could you even think of committing this sinful deed and acting unfaithfully to God….
In the above scripture from Chapter 13, I included the ‘gist’ of what Nehemiah was saying. It is not unlike a parent, a teacher or boss saying something like “I leave you alone for two seconds and you end up….” Can you relate? To also piggy back on yesterday’s theme of self leadership and the psychology of 'parts work'. We do this to ourselves all the time, and then we find ourselves looking in the mirror in disgust or just feeling like giving up and pushing the ‘f-it button’. Am I right? We feel like we work so hard to get to a certain point and then we make the mistake of thinking ‘I got this’, no problem, and then before you know it 💥we are way off track, or maybe you find yourself right back where you started 🪃.
I think this is what happened in Judah. They all worked hard under Nehemiah’s leadership to get Judah back on track. The wall was rebuilt, the society set up, everyone understood their roles and responsibilities etc.. The law was not only read to the people but it was taught so that they understood. They also understood that the Levites and singers were to be taken care of so they could take care of the temple and do all they needed to do to worship the Lord. They were all supposed to observe the Sabbath. The order of things were clear, or so it seemed. I am sure Nehemiah had conversations with the various leaders he left in charge before he left confirming that they understood. Everyone probably said, ‘yep - got it boss, you can trust us, go to Babylon and take care of your business, we will take care of Judah, we got this!’. Then we learn that they in fact don’t ‘got it’.
This is so like what we do, at least if you are human like me. I am also pretty sure this wasn’t a sudden about face or intentional defiance, like ..‘hey Nehemiah’s gone, let’s ignore the rules, time to do what we want’ scenario. It was probably a slow slide, incrementally day by day just getting off track, letting this rule go and then only half way doing something else and before you know it, there is a ‘new normal’. During the time of writing this, we are just coming out of a world wide pandemic and we know this term ‘new normal’ all too well. And a lot of people are taking advantage of it, some for good some not so good.
This is also what our brain will do and our ‘selves’. If we don’t have a clear leader in charge who is good at self leadership then another part of our self might take over and hijack the whole ‘self’ and before you know it you are on the ‘couch eating a bag of cookies after a stressful day’, instead of having maybe taking a deep breath, having a treat of a one or two cookies, acknowledging the stressed out part of you and then taking care of her and going to bed, journaling, and/or taking a warm bath etc..
Complacency is defined as ‘self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies’. When you have the feeling that ‘I’ve got this’, that should be a red flag 🚩in and of itself! Recognize this as a warning sign⚠️. It gets to the heart of the matter. True leadership is an important ingredient of self leadership and integrity is humility and KNOWING that no one ever ‘get’s it’. Life is a journey of growing and learning and knowing that you never arrive, there is no destination and even the most wise need to have guardrails in place that keep them on the right path. Self leadership and awareness is also a process. Nehemiah didn’t have it all together out of the gate, which is why he relied on the firm foundation of God and his word and commands. Those were his guardrails no matter what, and when he got off track he knew exactly where, why, who and what to do.
I know not everyone reading this is a believer in God like I am, and that is ok, but everyone needs a belief ‘system’ to help guide life in a purposeful direction. Otherwise any road will do, and there is no destination and you will be ruled by your feelings and emotions and depending on the circumstances of the day and you can be taken out completely or down very dark, sad and lonely paths if you let the hurt, overwhelmed, disappointed, lonely and wounded parts of you be in the drivers seat. It is a life of victimhood and enslavement, vs empowerment and clarity of purpose. Contrary to popular belief, structure and systems provide freedom, they don’t limit it. Another example of God’s upside down way of living.
✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt
Have you gotten complacent in areas of your life? Are you feeling of track? What are some of your personal guardrails, practices and habits that keep you on track?
📖Tomorrows Reading
Esther 1-5
Coaching Opportunity
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