February 8. Love is Not Proud

February 8. Love is Not Proud

The word physioo (foo-see-ah-oh) is used here.  Let’s see what we can do with this word.  Literally it means to blow up – to inflate.  But, it’s all about having an exaggerated image of one self.  Older translations might have said ‘puffed up.’  Conceited, one who puts on airs.  Do you have a picture now of what Paul means?

When I was in elementary school, I was less than nothing.  I was in a class of 23 kids and had joined them as we entered second grade.  The girls weren’t really prepared to accept me.  In the five years we lived in that little town, I never once felt as if I were part of the top clique of 3 or 4 girls in my grade.  I never could understand what they saw in each other – those girls weren’t that bright, they didn’t do anything really fun.  Sure, they spent time flirting with the boys, but at least I got out and did things with the boys and competed with them academically.  They didn’t have much going for them at all, but they puffed themselves and each other up so far, they blew around the school as if they ran the place.  Teachers didn’t particularly care about them – the only people that cared whether they were important were the girls themselves.

Their conceit and arrogance ran deep. And what a terrible time in a young girl’s development to have this type of antipathy aimed at her.  You see, I recognized right away that they were filled with nothing but hot air and though I would have loved to have been invited to all of their parties and sleepovers, they had absolutely nothing to offer me.  My innocent recognition of that might have contributed to their disdain of me, but I didn’t know any other way to live.  Just at the time we were starting to develop physically, they declared (in essence) that being undeveloped was the best way to live.  One poor little girl in our class was constantly harassed by them for having done exactly the opposite – even though she really had no option.  She spent a lot of days after phys-ed in tears because of their bullying techniques.

Being puffed up about oneself is truly useless.  We fill ourselves with so much empty air that those around us do recognize the fallacy in our personality.  Paul calls us to be honest about who we are.  With that type of honesty, we have no need to wound those around us as we recognize the incredible relationships that exist.