Heart Check
“We need to make friends with ourselves. We are stuck with our self all day, so let’s be kinder, gentler, more amusing company. Let’s take our own hand and say, ‘There, there, sister. You’re doing a good job. I’m proud of how you’re handling all this craziness down here. Don’t give up. Carry on, warrior.'” -Glennon Doyle Melton
How are you doing with that?
As we move into the month of February, we will of course be talking love. The world will throw it at you in the stores, in commercials, even while grocery shopping. If you are in a good place, in a good relationship, you may appreciate the constant reminder of the beauty and fun of being in love. But if your story, like so many others, has heart ache, loneliness, and sadness, this constant assault might weigh you down. Even if you are in that good place mentioned above, the commercialism and cheapening of such a treasured emotion can be tiresome.
So, we’re going to talk about it. We’re going to ask some hard questions. Because you can’t truly love others until you love yourself. You can’t truly love God and not love the way He made you. You can’t really be all that He has made you to be and gifted you to do, if you are looking to a broken world and hurting people to answer your hearts’ request for validation.
So today, the questions stands, as your read the quote above, how are you doing with that? What are the words you are speaking to yourself. Are they words of love and encouragement or voices of accusation and condemnation. Are you your own cheerleader or are you more likely to be your own judge, jury and executioner.
Are you feeling a little attacked right now? It’s ok, me too. The truth is, I have spent too many hours being my own worst critic, too many hours regretting what I’ve done instead of celebrating who I am and most importantly whose I am. Too many hours focusing on my failures instead of recognizing God’s glory in my life. But today that changes. This month I choose differently; every heart shaped thing that crosses my path will serve as a reminder of how much I am loved. Every flower bouquet will serve as a reminder of all the gifts He has already given, and how many more He has planned for me. Every jewelry commercial will serve as a reminder that He has already chosen me and that that is the only validation that matters. And every stuffed animal from Teddy Bears to Lobsters (yes, that’s a Friends reference) will serve as a reminder that He cares about the tender places of my heart.
This year I choose to take another step in believing the truths He has spoken about me. I choose to tell the old lies of diminishment and disqualification that they have no place here. This year I choose to walk a little closer to Jesus and and ask that His words, His truths be the loudest things in my life. Will you join me?
Do you every think God gets sad, like “What do you mean you don’t love yourself, I worked so hard on you.”