This afternoon I was talking with someone and as I listened to the story being told I suddenly felt grateful that *it* isn't all about me. I'm better off when my minutes, hours, and days aren't all about me - when I can focus on others and their needs, hearts, etc. When I do make things all about me I am frankly quite miserable. And don't misunderstand me, when it comes to taking care of myself - physically and emotionally - there is an element of it having to be all about me but overall in my days I really want it to be about others. I trust my Creator to take care of my needs (and usually he does it through someone else who isn't focused on themselves so see how it's a circle? Not a vicious one but a rather lovely one). So today I'm feeling grateful for the times when I can let go of some crazy insecure need for things to be all about me and I can make *it* all about others.
There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.
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