Love Yourself

I think it's safe to say that there have been times in everyone's lives when perhaps we didn't love ourselves enough... or let me rephrase that, perhaps we didn't show ourselves enough love. I often times say that love is a verb. It is not just a feeling or emotion that resides deep within our hearts but in order to love (or show love), we must DO something. Admittedly, I have not always made the best choices when it comes to romantic love or even friendships. But anyone who truly knows me knows that when I love, I love hard. Honestly, I don't know how to be any different and not quite sure that I want to be any different. Despite the heartaches, my experiences have taught me valuable life lessons so it is not all in vain. For that, I owe a debt of gratitude to those who have rendered (whether purposely or unintentional) hurt & harm to my heart. The past year of my life has been rather trying. For many reasons. I take full ownership and responsibility for my role in the trying times. However, it allowed me to see myself, deal with myself accordingly & make the adjustments necessary in order to demonstrate (put into action) a true love for me that aligns with my love for God as well as His love for me. I allowed myself some much deserved time & space from certain people or situations in order to have more time & intimacy with God. No distractions, no temptations; not allowing anything to cloud my judgment, intrude on my positive space or cause me to second guess all I know to be true. Just me & God. I have given all of myself in the name of love (often times too much) but now is MY time. Too many times I have placed the needs of others before my own. Too many times I have sacrificed myself for other folk's happiness. Too many times I have allowed my love for others to overpower my common sense. So for the past year, I have truly been praying & calling out to the Lord about many things. One of them being love. I could share everything that God has told/reminded me of but there probably isn't enough space on this blog to clearly articulate it all. What I will say though is that I love me some me! The good, the bad, the ugly... it is who I am and/or who I was and it has helped me to become a much better person. I love my boys more than imaginable. There is nothing that I won't do for them. While I know they will experience their own hurts and pains throughout this journey of life, if I could, I would take it for them. As I'm sure most parents can say, the love we have for our children is somewhat inexplainable. I love them like I love my next breath. When I think about how much I love my children, I have a greater understanding of God's love for me (although I probably cannot fully comprehend just how much he loves me). John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life". Truly, is there any love greater than that? With that being said, I realize the need to show myself a greater love. Not that I haven't loved myself but the action attached to the feeling should be clearer in my every day living & choices. So I make no apologies for using this past year to not only fall deeper in love with myself, but fall deeper in love with the Lord. I pray to be an example of love for Jayden & Jonah, that I may teach them about Christ's love for us & that they will know how important it is to love themselves actively & intensely. While it is good to be loved by others, whether or not someone loves me or truly demonstrates their love for me is not my concern at this time. At the end of the day, what matters most is that Jesus loves me so much that even before my physical creation, he thought I was to die for. And I'm glad about it!!! So today, I simply encourage you all to love yourselves. Not a little bit. Not half way. Not sometimes. Love yourself... daily. Fully. Completely. And unapologetically.