“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.”
This week I felt prompted to sit in one of my (intelligent and amazing) mom’s classes. This last week, she taught about what love is defined from an average person, and how God defines it. She talked about how we are supposed to love others and how that is impossible if we have not learned to love ourselves.
I am a person who, admittedly, has an incredibly hard time loving myself the way that God tells me to. I can look in the mirror and say “I’m going to kick today’s butt!” but when I mess up I am not patient or kind to myself. I am continuously reminded of my mess ups and past wrongs, and have an incredibly hard time moving past them. I can tell every other person they are forgiven, yet when it comes to my own mistakes, I have a hard time thinking that way.
If I treat myself as though everything I do is wrong and unforgivable, how on earth can I expect to treat others as God would want me to treat them? The truth is that I can’t. Again, God is telling me to stop relying on my own understanding and to give everything to Him. I can’t grasp true love, because I am not defined as love. God is, though. What a world of pressure that takes off of me in the fact that I know I cannot do this alone, but through God all things are possible. (yes, sounds cliche, but is so very true.)
I challenge those of you who may struggle with the same things I struggle with (as far as truly loving yourself the way God wants us to) and reading 1 Corinthians 13 before you go about your day. Every day that you do, find some new way to focus on loving yourself, because I know that there are millions of reasons for you to love and accept yourself.
