Week 4

We cannot know the great things of the universe until we know ourselves to be great things. – Parker J. Palmer

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. – Romans 12:3

At first glance the two statements above seem at odds with each other. Palmer seem to inflate  ourselves to the great things of the universe, while the bible seems to bring us back down to earth telling us to be sober, or realistic about our place in it.

However, upon further review, the bible isn’t as negative as it seems. Being realistic about our place in the universe cuts both ways, meaning that we can have an over-inflated sense of self-worth, in which case we should come back down to reality, but at the same time we can have a deflated sense of self-worth.

Too many people, especially teenagers, have for whatever reason a low sense of self-esteem. This leads to depression and even suicide for too many. It is the role of the teacher in these cases to teach them to look at things with “sober judgment”. If they can look at themselves realistically then they will see that they are not strange, ugly, fat, dumb, short, nor anything else others have said to them. Instead, they are precious creations of God, who had faith in them to give them the talents and gifts to succeed in life. With this sense of self-worth, they can then discover all the great things in the universe.