Unshackled Moments ~ August 20 ~ Loving Ourself

In yesterday's UM Stop Trying So Hard To Love the fact that we need God's grace to be able to love others as we are called to was the theme. But it's not just loving others that we don't get right. We also often fail to love ourselves as God wants us to. God does want us to love ourselves. If He didn't then loving your neighbor as you love yourself would have no meaning. But more times than not if we do love ourself we begin ego tripping and become full of pride. And the other end of that swing is a self hatred and self loathing that fails to see any value in who we are. Yes, we are sinners and screw ups on our own power, but that is not all we are. We do not need to be full of pride and consider ourselves above or better than others to love ourselves, nor do we need to be self loathing to be humble.God values you so much that He hung on the cross with all the weight of your sin so that He could establish a relationship with you. That means you're valued and important to the Creator of the universe. And while you often hear in the rooms of recovery that you're not unique and are not suffering from terminal uniqueness, the truth is that you are indeed unique. Not in the sense that no one can get what it's like to be you or no one has gone through what you have, but in the sense that there is a part of God's spirit that you are uniquely qualified to compliment. There is some part of who He is that will never be glorified quite the same by anyone else. God loves us, and we all have our own special and unique calling and relationship with Him.  That means we should value and love ourself as a precious part of His family.