Jesus made a point of telling us to love others as we
love our self. Most of us despise our self, have grudges and disappointments
and unforgiveness toward our self. We do not love our self at all (Mark
12:30-31).
Therefore, how can we truly love anyone else? We compare
our self to worldly standards and find our self lacking. We listen to
significant others in our life and adopt their opinion of us, even if it is
negative.
We try all of our life to earn the unconditional love,
respect, worth and affirmation we so desperately need. We sell our self short
and give up on our self. We feel useless, hopeless, helpless and unlovable.
We are not powerful enough, rich enough, adorable enough,
smart enough, talented enough, or attractive enough; we are not enough. We see
our self through the eyes of others and we feel disappointed and ashamed.
However, God wants us to see our self through His eyes -
as a person He cares about so much that He gave His life for us. He wants us to
love our self as He loves us, and then to love others as we love our self.
We can start by accepting our self as He accepts us, just
the way we are. We can make better, healthier, wiser and more nurturing
choices. We can speak only kind, loving words to and about our self and others.
We can take care of our body, soul and spirit. We can accept
our feelings and seek God to find resolutions for our negative feelings and
unresolved conflicts. We can judge our self only through the eyes of God, not the
eyes of the world.
We can stop using addictions, people, vocation and
talents to make us feel better about our self. We can stop abandoning our self and
taking our self and others for granted. We can stay in touch with who we are,
what we need and how God is leading us all throughout our day.
Prayer:
Father God, enlighten the eyes of our understanding to
see our self as You see us: as Your adopted children, co-heirs with Christ of
Your entire Kingdom. Remind us to pay attention to our physical, emotional,
spiritual and mental needs and to seek You on how to fulfill them.
Help us to accept our feelings and circumstances, even
the negative ones, as Your tool in our life to bring us closer to total surrender
to Your will and to keep us from depending on our human resources and understanding.
Give us Your peace and joy as our strength. Remind us that without You we are
nothing; but with You, all things are possible if we simply believe (John 15:5;
Mark 9:23).
Thought for the Day:
Take the time throughout the day for a personal physical,
mental, emotional and spiritual inventory; meet your needs or ask God to meet
them; and then give yourself time to renew Your strength in the Lord and to
rise up on wings like eagles. - Isaiah 40:31
Many thanks to Matt Milligan for the use of his photo.
