Anna Karenina
11-19-12 Tolstoy’s Haughty Girl
In the marvelous Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy has this gem:
“All the girls in the world were divided into two classes: one class included all the girls in the world except her, and they had all the usual human feelings and were very ordinary girls; while the other class -herself alone- had no weaknesses and was superior to all humanity.”
Do you know anyone like the above? It may be a girl, a woman, a man or boy, it may be you. If it’s someone else, you may enjoy mocking their ignorance of the human condition. If it is you, as they say at Princeton, You be in a mess.
It may be that most people at points in their life think like the superior girl and at other times feel as though they are the world’s most inferior. Either pole is damaging to wholesome Christian service and contented living.
I struggled with a sense of personal worthlessness. People I knew assured me this was true. After conversion to Christ I was convinced that I was vastly superior to most others. In time Jesus taught me about myself, His love for me and His lofty ideals.
Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
Copyright © Larry Lilly
In the marvelous Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy has this gem:
“All the girls in the world were divided into two classes: one class included all the girls in the world except her, and they had all the usual human feelings and were very ordinary girls; while the other class -herself alone- had no weaknesses and was superior to all humanity.”
Do you know anyone like the above? It may be a girl, a woman, a man or boy, it may be you. If it’s someone else, you may enjoy mocking their ignorance of the human condition. If it is you, as they say at Princeton, You be in a mess.
It may be that most people at points in their life think like the superior girl and at other times feel as though they are the world’s most inferior. Either pole is damaging to wholesome Christian service and contented living.
I struggled with a sense of personal worthlessness. People I knew assured me this was true. After conversion to Christ I was convinced that I was vastly superior to most others. In time Jesus taught me about myself, His love for me and His lofty ideals.
Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
Copyright © Larry Lilly
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