I believe that within each of our souls there is both a sinner and a saint. In many ways, it is like the legend of the two wolves.
An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life.
“A fight is raging within my soul,” he told the boy. ”It is a terrible fight between two wolves.
“One is evil—he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.
“The other is good—he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
“This same fight is going on inside you—and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
“The one you feed,” replied the chief.
If you are someone who struggles with depression, your mind has the propensity to drag you down. Every day, you have to make conscience decisions to feed the good wolf—to give energy and strength to the saint in your soul. Part of that means that you try to take in positive things: such as watch a lot of comedies, listen to a ton of talks and try to listen to quiet, inspirational music.
The other part of that means that you try to stay involved in good causes: You try to stay active in your faith, work with non-profits, do your best to serve other people.
But you may still struggle…quite a bit. Oftentimes, the sinner in you may be much stronger than the saint—and he doesn’t fight fair.
Don’t be dismayed, most people will struggle with the sinner in your for the rest of your life. That’s part of living in a fallen and unstable world, the purpose for which we came — there will never be a time when you don’t have to deal with weeds.
We are all sinners and saints in the sense that every human has qualities that are admirable and others that are less desirable. No one (ourselves included) can be considered “ideal” in any way because to be human is to be flawed. So no one has the moral high ground to judge another. Instead, we should aim to embrace that which is good and positive in others and spare as little energy as possible on the negatives. (Source: Five Lessons from Five Colleagues)
Serve strength to the saint of your soul by embracing that which is good.
Why your present condition?
Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, God would have put you there. You are put by him in the most suitable place, and if you had had the picking of your lot half-an-hour afterwards, you would have come back and said, “Lord, choose for me, for I have not chosen the best after all.” You have heard, perhaps, the old fable in Aesop, of the men that complained to Jupiter, of their burdens, and the god in anger bade them every one get rid of his burden, and take the one he would like best. They all came and proposed to do so. There was a man who had a lame leg, and he thought he could do better if he had a blind eye; the man who had a blind eye thought he could do better if he had to bear poverty and not blindness, while the man who was poor thought poverty the worst of ills; he would not mind taking the sickness of the rich man if he could but have his riches. So they all made a change. But the fable saith that within an hour they were all back again, asking that they might have their own burdens, they found the original burden so much lighter than the one that was taken by their own selection. So would you find it. Then be content; you cannot better your lot. Take up your cross; you could not have a better trial than you have got; it is the best for you; it sifts you the most; it will do you the most good, and prove the most effective means of making you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God.
~Charles Spurgeon~
