Self Love

The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." –Mark 12:31

“You can't just sit there and put everyone's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.” –Stephen Chbosky

Lately I’ve had some fantastic conversations with some friends of mine about self-love. This is a major movement among my age group, which is a beautiful thing, because for far too long, the young adults of America have been taught the opposite.

One of my friends was asking me about people pleasing, and how “If the bible says that we are treat others as we want to be treated then shouldn’t we treat them the best and do anything for them. Because that is what I want them to do for me…” While it is true that we need to treat others with respect, love and kindness, this does not necessarily mean that we need to throw out all thought of ourselves.

Mark tells us the golden rule, and that is good. We need to be told to think of others and how our actions will affect them and their lives. Our selfish natures long to be number one and think of how we can get what we want. But like all things in life, this is about moderation. If you look at that verse, Jesus does not say “Serve yourself and give what’s left to others” but he also doesn’t say “Throw yourself under the bus and forget about your value, just make sure that everyone else feels good.” Our culture tries to tell us that one of these is the truth.

The truth is that we are to love others as we love ourselves. We are to also love ourselves. God made each person beautiful and unique and full of a gift that no one else can offer in exactly the same way. What a shame it is that so many of us hide our quirks and talents for fear that we will be seen as odd. How heartbreaking is that so many people will gladly throw away their originality to become a carbon copy of the other people they know. It is a tragedy that there are people in our world who think that they have no worth and spend their whole lives trying to earn what is freely given to us.

I love the Chbosky quote at the top. It’s from the book “Perks of Being a Wallflower.” This quote reinforces the fact that losing you for the sake of other people is no honorable action. It is not a grand loving gesture, but in fact a great loss to the world.

Be you.

Be free.

Be able to love who you are and who others are.

See the value and beauty in everyone and work to help them see it through your actions.

A fantastic website that has a great perspective on this issue is:

wearelionhart.com

Check it out. Take it in. And know how passionately you are loved.