Adios!

I finished reading this book last week, and let me tell ya, it kicked my keister! (Is there a proper spelling for keister...Keester? Kiester?) Anyway!
It was so good, I was really excited to read it, but I had no idea how much it would bring some aspects of my personality to light, and how convicted I would be by reading it. My book is very, very, highlighted, so much of it spoke to me.
Here's the main thing I took from the book. Beth Moore gives a lot of examples of the ways insecurity tends to make fools of us. Crazy things we do and say in the moments where our insecurity is at it's height. She talks about how it affects our friendships, our marriages, our relationship with God even. And it got me thinking, how does my own insecurity manifest itself?
My conclusion? When I'm feeling insecure, I become EXTREMELY judgmental. Examples? Well sure, I've got a billion of them.
When I'm feeling insecure about my weight (most of the time), I "size" up every random woman I come across... "am I heavier than her".."surely she's a bigger size than me", etc..etc..

When I'm feeling insecure about myself as a mother, I judge the behavior of kids around me... "my kids are at least SITTING in the cart, those kids are running through the store"..."at least our kids aren't climbing all over the waiter/waitress like those kids"...etc..etc.

When I'm feeling insecure about my marriage, I judge the marriages around me (and usually with little or NO correct information to go on!) I make assumptions that the other couple (sometimes complete strangers!) has nothing as good as we do in our marriage.

When I'm feeling insecure about my relationships, I judge the quality of relationships around me, you know, the ones that I don't have a CLUE about! Relationships that I have no idea what the inner workings are, the dynamics, the REALITIES!

So, how have I taken this aspect of insecurity and tried to better myself? Now whenever I get those rambling judgmental thoughts in my head, I catch myself. I stop and ask, "What is it that I'm feeling insecure about?" 99% of the time, I have found that my judging is coming from my own insecurity. I HATE being judgmental. I really, really hate it. It's such a trap, and so not useful for anything. It's a trap that I fall into often, and a trap that I'm trying to avoid more and more these days.
It's so much easier to love others, to be more open to others without the false assumption/judgmental thing going on in my head. I have a long way to go, but if this is the only thing that sticks with me from the pages of this book, I think it's a good thing to hang on to!
I've recommended the book to so many people, and I think you should get it and read it, too! You'll love it, and maybe it'll kick your keester too! (Keister, kiester??)