Saturday 13 April 2013

So you think you are pretty clever

You wear nice clothes, you have beautiful children, you drive a lovely car and you own a home, or two or three - so you think you are pretty clever.  You buy organic food, you have an abundant kitchen garden, you don't eat preservatives, you have free range animals, you cook cakes from scratch and you eat 2 fruit and 5 veg every day - so you think you are pretty clever.  You went to a fancy school, you know big words, you go on exotic holidays, you can speak more than one language, you have sponsor children, you have a university degree/s - so you think you are pretty clever.  Your picture is in the paper a lot, you have hundreds of people follow you on Twitter, your blog is read by thousands, you take great photos on Instagram - so you think you are pretty clever. 

Who ever you are, what ever you do or don't do, I absolutely agree you are pretty clever but no more, or no less, clever than anybody else.  Most of your cleverness has been determined by the amount of unconditional love you received as a child, the country you were born in, the level of education you received and your genetics.  So much of your cleverness is out of your control.

So definitely believe you are clever, but you have been created clever on purpose.  You have been created clever to help your fellow human beings, to love your neighbour.  You have been created clever so you can make the world a better place, to bring joy to the lives of those around you and to love deeply.

You will experience great disappointment if you think your cleverness is purely because off you, and solely for your benefit.  Never think people you deem less clever than you should be treated differently to how you want to be treated, that is not very clever at all.  Never think you are the most clever, you are wrong. As Proverbs 27:1 says "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring", this is worth remembering before you start telling everybody how clever you are.

So whether you can read or not, whether you are good at maths or not, whether you are black or white, whether you have lots of money or not, whether you can paint, dance, sing or not, whether you are employed or not, whether you have no children or 10 children, whether you are beautiful or not, whether you have a home or not, whether you are young or old, whether you are hungry or not; the truth of the matter is you are so very clever.  The trick is turning your cleverness into joy, positive change, compassion and empathy - now that is clever.

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