Beautiful Things: Love Yourself :) (Day 3)

Day Three:

Love Thy Self.

Love thy self. You might be wondering why this is so important. Why would self-love come before so many other Godly principles, especially when this devotional is about God? I believe it is the highest calling to love ourselves as we love our neighbors (inverted). I personally was raised to believe that you aren’t rude to strangers and you always put your best foot forward. You show kindness in public (especially!) and you always say a kind thing (if you have nothing nice to say, stay quiet). These are not bad principles.

But, sometimes you need to say something unkind. Sometimes, you need to know your own needs and feel okay expressing them. Sometimes, you need to know you are loved, highly-favored and a child of God and then step out from there and assert yourself. God doesn’t want doormats, He wants children who will stand up for what is right and make His name known. This means saying what you believe in, even if everyone isn’t or believes in something else. That means not laughing at the inappropriate joke, just because everyone else is. If it is cruel and hurtful to someone else, you don’t need to laugh, you need not conform. Some people know this, they were raised this way and maybe they need to be softened. Maybe they are very comfortable expressing themselves, but have never learned to do it with love, with understanding that all people make mistakes. We can relate in one way or another. But knowing ourselves and what we need to work on is the beginning step to letting God work in us and give us guidance along the way as we begin to see ourselves as He sees us- wonderfully made and beautifully crafted and too precious to be let astray.

Prayer:

Dear God,

Thank you for knowing me and forming me in my mother’s womb. Thank you for spending time crafting me to be so perfect. Thank you that I do not have to compete with another woman or man out there, because we are all precious and beautiful- just like the roses in bloom. I know you desire for me to be free, to be comfortable being me, that even in my faults you have created a masterpiece. I appreciate the quirks in my sense of humor, I acknowledge that time alone with you is really about filling me up with your grace and message, so that all my doubts and insecurities can be erased, Forgive me for doubting your plan or your intentions and please help me on this path, wherever we may go. I love you God and I can see a very beautiful work being done in me.

Amen.

Psalm 139:13-16

“13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.”

Song: Beautiful Things by Gungor

Your Thoughts, Your Changes, Your Progress. (Space for your quiet time with God).