You Have Nothing

In The Cosby Show, season 3 episode 8, the Huxtables' daughter Vanessa starts to think she is rich and tries to use that fact in order to gain popularity at school. Some other kids start to make fun of her and call her "stuck up" which results in her being involved in a fight and that leads to a conversation with her parents. When she explains what happened and points the blame at "we" being rich, her father corrects her. "Listen carefully. Your mother and I are rich, you have nothing."

I think we often forget our true relationship to what we "own." We talk about what we have and how we worked to get it, but in reality it is important to remember that all things come from God. We should remember to acknowledge God's hand in all things.

When the children of Israel finally entered the Promised Land, the Lord warned them about forgetting who had led them out of Egypt and provided for them so many rich blessings.

17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
(Deut 8:17-18)

One person who seemed to fully understand this concept was Job. He was a very wealthy man with a large family and in one day he lost it all. His children were all killed, his herds of animals were all stolen or killed, almost all of his servants were killed, and even his good health was taken away.

20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
(Job 1:20-22)

If Job complained about losing his riches, he knew that God could have said to him, "Listen carefully. I am rich, you have nothing." God created the world and everything that is in it, including us. He gave us our talents. If we humbly acknowledge His hand in blessing us we will be able to remember when difficult times come that nothing was truly "ours" to begin with. We should be grateful for what we have when we have it and not bitter when it is no longer in our possession.

Source: The Cosby Show

Stand at Ease

King Agesilaus of Sparta sent an army against Thebes to conquer it. His force consisted of about 1,500 cavalry and 28,000 infantry. Athens was an ally of Thebes so they immediately sent help under the command of Chabrias, but the combined forces of Thebes and Athens only amounted to about 1,700 cavalry and 17,000 infantry. Sparta outnumbered them by about 30,000 to 20,000.

The Theban and Athenian forces occupied a small hill which gave them a small tactical advantage. King Agesilaus wanted to either intimidate them into fleeing or taunt them into charging. If they fled, Sparta would conquer Thebes without any more fighting. If they charged, the allied forces would have lost their tactical advantage on the hill. That strategy had worked for the Spartans in several previous engagements. He commanded the entire Spartan army to advance.

It was at this time that Chabrias gave his most famous command. With only 200 m (660 ft) separating the two armies, Agesilaus was expecting the Theban and Athenian forces to charge at any moment. Instead, Chabrias ordered his men to stand at ease. In unison, his soldiers immediately assumed the resting posture - with the spear remaining pointing upwards instead of towards the enemy, and the shield propped against the left knee. The Theban commander ordered his soldiers to do the same, which they did with the same precision and confidence.

The audacity of the maneuver and the discipline of the execution was such that Agesilaus halted the Spartan advance. Seeing that his attempts to provoke the Theban and Athenian forces to flee or fight on lower ground were unsuccessful, Agesilaus eventually thought it wiser to withdraw his forces.

The allied forces of Athens and Thebes were victorious I believe for two very important reasons.
1. They refused to be intimidated, bullied, or otherwise manipulated by the Spartan army.
2. They had courage and confidence.

Sparta did not really want to fight the battle that was presented to them and they tried to manipulate the allies. The Athenian commander called their bluff.

As I read about this story I thought about bullying in general. What are some of our best tools when dealing with bullies? First, we need to be confident in who we are. This does not mean that we need to be more talented than anyone else. We need to know our strengths and limitations. But we do not let our weaknesses define who we are.

And second, we need to refuse to allow ourselves to be manipulated by others. When I was in 3rd grade my teacher told me, "We control our own interior weather." She was talking about keeping control of our emotions and not allowing the actions of others to dictate our own happiness, sadness, or anger. That saying has always stuck with me. If we can control our interior weather it will be much easier for us to ignore the threats and negativity of others who may be dragging us down (intentionally or unintentionally).

If we are confident of who we are and in control of our own emotions we will be able to "stand at ease" in the face of trials and difficulties.

Source: Wikipedia