Love yourself.

Yesterday, Josh and I attended Blackhawk Church in Madison, and it was definitely one of those mornings where God made things happen for us.

We woke up 30 minutes before the service was going to start, so we had 15 minutes to whip ourselves together and 15 minutes to walk to church. Miraculously, it was not a stressful morning of prep, and we managed to get there only about 5 minutes late.

When the sermon began, I honestly didn’t think it was going to be something I was going to be able to dive into. Matthew 22:34-40 popped up on the screen and it was one I have heard numerous times, and as a child, we memorized it. It’s about the greatest of the commandments, and the sermon was going to focus on “loving your neighbor as yourself.”

I completely pre-judged. It wasn’t a sermon about loving my neighbor, but recognizing that I am called to love my neighbor in the same way I love myself.

You’re probably thinking, “duh! I got that from the verse.” But what we skim over is the fact that more often than not, we are really hard on ourselves. We don’t allow ourselves to forget our mistakes, we judge our appearances, and a good portion of the time we are tearing ourselves down. And sadly, the things we say to ourselves sometimes are things we wouldn’t dare say out loud to anyone else.

I had NEVER thought of the verse in that way. How can I possibly love someone like I love myself if I am too busy tearing myself down to love who I am? The sermon was all about learning to love yourself, and that was a topic I desperately have been needing.

When it comes to myself, I am constantly at war. I don’t often go a day without beating myself up. Some days my mind really gets the best of me: I’m a bad wife, a crappy daughter, neglectful sister, inattentive friend, terrible leader, not a good business woman, etc… It’s actually exhausting to think about the negative things I allow myself to believe about who I am.

The Bible teaches us about love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Again, I know that these verses apply to how I am called to love others, but it’s also how I am called to love myself. Learning to love myself, will in turn enable me to love others better too.

I am so glad that God blessed us with this sermon and I want to share it with you too, because what I took away from it may not be what you do. So if you are so inclined, or even curious, I encourage you to check it out for yourself. I hope this helps you to fall in love with who you are.

https://vimeo.com/131118660