Change begins with me

Leo Tolstoy said, “everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.”
It may be a generalization and not true for all, but I reckon it is true for many.  I have seen it in action and see it regularly.  People telling others how to live.  It reminds me of what Jesus was referring to when he talked about the speck in another’s eye and having a beam in my own.
Dwight L Moody said, “I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man I have ever met.”  Ain’t that the truth.  I watched a movie the other day, which, by the look of it was based on a true story, where a guy set a standard for himself which was still bad but better than his dad.  His dad was abusive and an alcoholic.  What this guy realized was that he was requiring of himself only that he was not as bad as his dad.  He drank, but not as much.  The upshot was that his world around him was still crumbling and that he needed changing.
As Doris Mortman said, “until you make peace with who you are, you will never be content with what you have.”
I am very much in the camp that change begins with me.   It is easier to concentrate on others and speak of their faults.  It is so easy to be right in my own eyes, and declare the faults of others.  Yet I ignore the glaring faults that I may have.  I reckon begin with me.  That in itself is a lifetime of work.
I do not reckon I have a right to set myself up.  No matter how good anyone is, we all fall short of perfection.  There is work to be done in me and I do well to work on that.
To me it is interesting the way it works.  Only as my issues are dealt with do I see more clearly what needs doing.  Yet I reckon it is like they say, “the more I know the more I realize what I don’t know.”
There is a lifetime of work needed on me.  I certainly have thoughts about stuff and often see difficulties, yet the more difficulties I see, the more I realize change begins with me.