Armour anyone?

So how many shots does it take to your armour before you are perforated with bullets? Seriously, I'm curious. Obviously I'm using some sort of metaphor here. I do not currently own a suit of armour and am doubtful you have one either. I'm talking about that invisible suit you wear to keep yourself yourself. It's the shell that protects you from emotional pain - the layer that prevents you from being influenced.

Let me elaborate. You wake up and you feel great. Maybe you even exercise - something you've been planning on doing for the past few week. Things are off to a fabulous start. You drink you water. You eat your breakfast. Perhaps you meditate. And then you take the kids to school and/or go to work or go get groceries and a variety of things happen. One of the kids decides they shouldn't wear a coat although it is pouring rain out and throws it off as you are getting into the car. One kid yells at another as you are getting them buckled in. Someone honks at you as you stop to let some random kid walk in front of your car. One of the kids decides he doesn't want you to leave and bursts into tears and now you are consoling your child and the clock is ticking. Traffic is heavy and you arrive at work too close to start time for comfort and the elevator is full so you have to wait for the next one and now you really are late. Or the parking lot at the grocery store is full of people walking where they shouldn't be and not caring about the fact that you are waiting with a line of cars behind you and a line of cars coming towards you as you pull into the lot. Someone gives you the finger. Are you still feeling peaceful and in control?

How many of these bullets does it take you before your armour is full of holes or battered beyond repair? Is that number constant? Are you better at defence on some days rather than others? It seems that way with me but I am curious about others. Is it just my personality? How many others moods can be changed by the moods of others? Please, I'd be interested to know.

Personally, I think we've got to get better armour. But how do we do that? How do we arm ourselves to protect our fragile egos or our fragile sense of selves? Because every day we face battles. Even if you lock yourself in your home and stay there, you will be faced with battles. Trust me. Been there, done that.

Forgive me a moment as I turn to the Bible - that book that some of you would rather I not turn to - but seriously, the Bible uses the analogy of armour to protect the people of God from the hostilities of evil and I think we can use this for our own well-being.

So, in the Bible it says "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with ther readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God..." Ephesians 6:14-16

I think when we face the bullets of the unknown who barrage us with their ammunition, we need to follow this advice. We need to keep that truth that we are special and capable and strong belted around our waist all day long. We need to protect our heart with the breastplate of confidence. Our feet should be wearing a pair of shoes that are prepared for the fact that there will be a challenge we need to be ready for. The shield of faith could be your spiritual faith or simply a faith in your own abilities despite those trying to tell you differently. The helmet of salvation - well, we need a helmet to keep that brain safe against psychological attack but I'm not sure what an equivalent to salvation is in secular terms. Something that would help us to remember that we are intelligent as well as helping us remember to keep things in perspective. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God could be simply words of affirmation about ourselves. I know I've used phrases for years such as 'I am beautiful' and 'I am a good thinker', repeating them to myself in the morning or evening or whenever I feel like those opinions of myself are being attacked, to help keep my self-esteem higher than it could be.

You are special. You are intelligent. I don't know what your unique ability collage is but you do have one. You have beauty in you. You can overcome. You can survive. These are things we need to keep at the forefront of our minds and hearts. We must rely on ourselves to build ourselves up. It is our own responsibility and we must not wait for others to take it on for us.

It's a fact that there will be days when the rain seems to be slowly melting us into a puddle of useless mush. There will be days when we feel like we are stretching to meet the sun. But perhaps we can keep who we are closer if we are suited up against attack. Thankfully this is all philosophical. I don't particularly think I'd enjoy walking around looking like a knight. That armour seems rather heavy to me. But I can wear our analogical armour around all the day long. Can you?