Dying to Self Poem: Simply beautifully put!

When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting or hurt with the oversight, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ;

That is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence;

That is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;

That is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;

That is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;

That is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;

That is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit, inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart;

That is dying to self.

Grow Deeper Now!

SPIRITUAL

Christmas in the West and the Decline of Religious Values
Increasing materialism in the West has made Christmas a purely commercial venture leaving the real meaning of Christmas a thing of the past.

Jesus or Emmanuel? Why Don't we Call Jesus Emmanuel?
There has been numerous misconceptions around the name of Jesus, this explains why.

THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

I am starting to love this and will truly appreciate it when I'm much less tired!  But I will, I know I will, I have a feeling that this year is going to be amazing!

KIDS ISSUES

Pre-Teenagers: A Label in Its Own Right
This article argues that 'pre-teenagehood' deserves to be a stand-alone stage of development as pre-teens do differ from both children and teenagers

Pampering and Make-up, A Child's Play?
How young is it too young for a girl to wear make-up? Is it wrong to allow teenage girls and younger ones to be too beauty conscious? What should we do as parents?

DEVELOPING WORLD ISSUES

The Role of the State in Development and External Influences
This article is the result of studies undertaken while doing my Msc in NGO and Development Management. 


Developing Countries Governance Problems
This article is also the product of my previous studies and is tightly associated to be above and to a more general topic I read extensively on, the role of the State in development (in developing countries context).

I intend to write more on that, and perhaps on more specific issues as the areas covered in both these articles are very wide and a whole book could easily be written on the issues covered in either articles.

EDUCATION AND TEACHING

Ideal Teacher?  What do you Mean?
This article is just to show that the notion of 'ideal teacher' is superficial, subjective and too complex to define anyway!


Working Class Underachievement in Maths: Teachers and Pedagogy
I attempt here to demonstrate that there is a link between teachers and the way Maths is taught in schools and the underachievement of working class children. 


Achievement Gap Between Middle and Working Class Maths Students
Working class students achieve less well in Maths than their middle class counterparts, and here are some thoughts about why that may be


The Origins of Reflection and Reflective Practice
I retrace here the historical origins of the commonly use practice of reflection today


Teacher Training Education to Undergo Drastic Changes
This article sprang to mind after hearing about the proposal made by our UK Education secretary, Michael Gove, to transform teacher training programmes by making them more 'hands on' and shifting away from university teaching


Unpopular GCSE Subject: Food Technology
This article explains that the unpopularity of Food Technology in the curriculum affects its uptake at GCSE.  It also explains that its non attractiveness has a lot to do with pre-conceptions that the subject is sort of 'non-intellectual'


International Schools: Teachers and Teacher Recruitment
This article which bore me when I read it, actually got me writing for Suite 101.  It is my first article!!!  I chose the topic according to a search I carried out on the Suite 101 website regarding the topics which had had less coverage.

PHILOSOPHICAL CORNER

FINDING WHO YOU ARE

I know it is common in the teenage years and even perhaps early adulthood to question yourself about who you really are, however, it kinds of fade away as you advance in years and you just assume you know 'who you are'. 

I personally think that life experiences can either be conducive to your ability to know yourself or hinder you from doing so!  Plus the person that you are may be seen differently in different circumstances and by different people.

On a day to day basis, I am a mother, most importantly, I feel like being a mother is the only thing I am as it takes most of my time and my energy.

When everything is quiet and the kids are sleeping at night, and when I can then look and think about some of the things I have done or achieved over the years, the mother slowy makes place for another person.

Conclusion: Doing is being

I think therefore that whatever you do is extremely important in the definition of yourself.  You obviously have certain characteristics a an individual which will determine your being as a mother, a professional, an artist etc, whatever it is that you do, but what you do, also impacts on your conscious knowledge of who you are.