I was raise to respect authority. There was a strong message that authority is God\u2019s way of talking to us, and that if I were to listen to what the people in charge of me I would be following God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n
I believed it, like you do when you\u2019re a kid. I maybe believed it more than other kids might have. I had friends who would sneak and do what suited them, but I was convinced that I would be better off somehow\u2014happier or more blessed\u2014by staying obedient.<\/p>\n
Then of course there was the hellfire.<\/p>\n
But I believed in the carrot, not the stick. It was about loving God to stay inside the confines of what I was told to do.<\/p>\n
I did break free, I did learn to disbelieve in the direct line of continuity of God through human authority figures.<\/p>\n
In principle.<\/p>\n
In reality, I still give in to this temptation in a thousand ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just obeying orders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, he probably knows something I don\u2019t\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the boss.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to cower and stay put. Mice are very good at that, and look how well they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
I guess.<\/p>\n
One place I am not at all willing to cower and delay about is for my daughter. If I see she needs something and someone else disagrees, then we disagree.<\/p>\n
When she was three, I made a mistake of taking someone else\u2019s advice. She was getting ready to do her preschool Christmas carol show, and I was fawning and fussing over her outfit. She was crying because she was nervous.<\/p>\n
She was so little! Her teacher shooed me out, telling me she would stop crying as soon as I left.<\/p>\n
My baby girl got up on stage and Full on Sobbed her way through the performance. The Show Must Go On, even though she was overcome.<\/p>\n
I was past overcome. I should never have listened to that teacher! I knew what my daughter needed, and it really WAS me.<\/p>\n
If I can know it for my daughter, I can know it for me too. There\u2019s always somebody ready to tell me that they have a better way.<\/p>\n
One Weird Tip<\/p>\n
5 Things to Never Do Again<\/p>\n
The voices of \u201cI know better than you\u201d are proliferating.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t put on this earth to be like anybody else. I\u2019d kind of like to believe that all my dreams would come true if I just followed one weird tip. Or that I could lay down the burden of uncertainty and responsibility by handing over my life to someone else.<\/p>\n
It feels easy to give up like that.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not what I want. And even if I make a mess of it and make other people uncomfortable, I am the one who does me the best.<\/p>\n
I can do me.<\/p>\n
Like a boss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was raise to respect authority. There was a strong message that authority is God\u2019s way of talking to us, and that if I were to listen to what the people in charge of me I would be following God\u2019s … Continue reading