Go Ahead, Love yourself

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Mark 12: 31

We try to show others our love and caring ways. However, there’s one person that often doesn’t get to feel your love and care, and that person is you. Did you know God wants us to love ourselves? Not a self-centered, self-absorbed love where everything is about you, but an unconditional love with true acceptance of ourselves, the way God loves us. Each of us is a unique masterpiece made by God.

We often hear negative self-talk; that’s the voice in your head that puts you down. We wouldn’t say the things we hear in our own mind to others; it would hurt their feelings terribly. But to ourselves, we might say, “You sure are stupid,” or “Look how fat you are,” or maybe, “You aren’t worth the space you take up.” Unfortunately, we might have heard these things from people that had great influence on us, like parents or teachers, and the negative seed is planted.

God doesn’t ever think negative things about us! He loves us just as we are right now, even when we make mistakes.

Let’s consciously plan to replace negative talk with positive, uplifting words. How about saying, “God loves me,” or “I am a unique masterpiece made by God,” or, “Jesus died for ME.”

When we can truly love ourselves, it will be much easier to spread that love to others.

by Ruthann Schmudde