Fortune Cookie Friday

Okay, I don't go out to eat enough to make Fortune Cookie Friday a thing for this blog, but this particular fortune came to me at the perfect time.

This fortune can probably be interpreted a number of ways. Old me might have read this more as "don't judge others." Or even the adage, "Don't judge someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes." New me read this as don't judge yourself.

It's easy to get caught up in worldly views of easy vs. hard and mediocrity vs. success. We (or is it just me?) often judge ourselves by these perceived standards rather than taking the time to take a step back and recalibrate for our individual life and loves.

Lately, I've been particularly hard on myself. It's almost reflexive for me to think I'm unemployed therefore my self-worth is automatically lower. I forget how much courage it took to leave my old life to pursue this foreign one. I'm completely outside my comfort zone at this point. A new home. A new purpose. A new lifestyle. A whole new path.

So even though I'm taking a break from that career path that I've been on since grade school, my growth and development haven't waned. On the contrary, I think they've accelerated -just in new ways. Our income might be down, but I must admit that our love, faith, and happiness are thriving. I certainly still see myself going back to the working world (absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all), but in the meantime I need to release my hang-ups and explore this new life I've both worked for and been blessed with.

The following Bible verse doesn't exactly relate to the fortune, but it's a part of what I'm discovering:

No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 

Matthew 6:24