The Enemy Within

We are our own worst enemy, only YOU can stand in your own way. We write the pages of our own destiny and even the pages of our past. The power is within us all, there are no specially selected or specially labelled group of people who were hand-picked by God that are able to govern their lives, we are all capable of governing our own lives. We allow persons in our lives with a clean slate and we won’t know if they will betray us or affect our destiny until they reveal their true identity to us. Since we have the reins on our lives, we can, in turn, become our own enemies.

It was American Rabbi Louis Binstock who said “Very often we are our own worst enemy as we foolishly build stumbling blocks on the path that leads to success and happiness”. Most often we view an enemy as someone or something that seeks to destroy us or get back at us because of something that occurred causing the relationship to suffer. We can look at the concept of an enemy as something within that stops us from striving for the greater good in ourselves. Our mental attitude could be our enemy because we hold on to a certain belief and it sets us back because we don’t want to embrace change but change can be good.

These two ladies on the NCU campus sharing the joy of love (file)

But more often than not the enemy we struggle with daily is our own conscience; we are in a tug-o-war that seems to have no end. Our conscience tells us to do one thing, but we want to do another. Whether we want to believe it or not, our conscience always tells us to do what is right, after all it is God’s little ‘gift’ to us from the Holy Spirit. It should be the main thing that governs our decisions. Many times however, we want to do what our bodies tell us to do or what society tells us to do, while totally disregarding our conscience.

For others though, the enemy within can be their true identity that they hide from the world, they are so preoccupied with staying true to the “status quo” of who they should be while fighting with who they really are for fear that they will not be accepted. This battle may be the result of low-esteem. Psychologist Dr. Julia Becker said on her website The Candid Counselo”, “Everyone has experienced periods of self-doubt and that nagging question, ‘Am I good enough?’ People with low self-esteem are often their own worst enemy. They often feel that they are not good enough, and have many other negative thoughts about themselves.” But who determines your level of goodness or lack thereof? - You do. The power lies within. Just like the enemy within you, there is equal power within to conquer it. If your enemy is your attitude, your conscience or your self-esteem (self-worth), the ultimate goal is to take control and turn the enemy into a friend. We are own enemies and nobody likes to have enemies. So wouldn’t it therefore be nice to transform your own self into a friend?

Shaneek Service and Lafaine A. Wiggan