Day 179: #LoveYourself Part 2

Mark 12:31

The second is this: ‘You should love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Ephesians 5:29

For no one has ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, as the Messiah does the church.

Psalms 139:14

I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.

Today we are taking it all the way back to the beginning, 171 days ago, but who's counting. On day seven of the devotional we started a little series on self love and this specific day was about loving yourself. I’m going to bring that theme back today and talk about loving the person you are from the inside, but also loving who you are on the outside. Being comfortable in your own skin and loving the person you are and not trying to shape and mould yourself into something or someone you think you should be. The goal of today is for us to be comfortable with who we are, and see that we are beautifully and wonderfully made.

“You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.”

– Diane Von Furstenberg

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in my twenty four years of living is to love myself and be comfortable with who I am. I spent so much time trying to change who I was an hating myself and not being comfortable in my own skin that I didn’t know what it meant to actually love myself. I didn’t know how to appreciate the body, the hair, the skin tone, the looks, the personality, or the gifts that God gave me. This as a result of me being bullied and blaming myself for being bullied. I hated who I was at a very young age, so I grew up very insecure, I hated my appearance, I hated my skin color, my hair, my height, everything about me I hated. But I loved acting because it gave me a chance to be someone else, that I could possibly fall in love with. Over the years as I’ve grown closer to God and closer to myself (I know that sounds weird but bear with me), I’ve learned that God made me who I am on purpose, He gave me this beautiful dark skin on purpose, this kinky-curly hair, that was on purpose too. My short stature, He gave that to me too. He created me in His image, in His hands, and I thank Him for that. I thank Him for showing me how to love who I am.

I believe that as people we are meant to love ourselves, if we don’t we cannot learn to love anyone else. As we pointed out in Day 7, Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourself. Now call me crazy but i think that there is a demand in there to love ourselves. Jesus doesn’t say things on accident, and we tend to overlook the part that says “...As yourself”. But once we truly love ourselves we will be able to spread that love and pour it onto others. My mom used to always say, “hurt people, hurt people” meaning we tend to throw our own insecurities and our own heartache and pain on others. We project ourselves onto other people. How we treat ourselves is often how we treat others. So just imagine, if we are loving ourselves and feeling confident and beautiful, and good about the skin we are in. Thankful for who we are, and the life we live. How do you think we are going to treat others?

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” and Mark Twain said, “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”

We call the shots, we are responsible for our own happiness, we are responsible for loving ourselves. I am going to say that loving yourself is a human responsibility. We are not always going to get compliments but that doesn’t mean we are not beautiful and handsome. One of things I pray is that God will help me to do is, be comfortable in my own skin. He has given us freedom and a life to live abundantly, the only one who can limit that is us. We have to learn to accept and love every part about us, the weird parts, the crazy parts, the parts that others will hate. Life is about freedom, live freely and be yourself. I truly believe that God gave us all different personalities, He gave us all different looks, shapes, and sizes and He loves it. We are all a melting pot of diversity, we don’t look the same, or act the same. How boring would that be. So let’s love ourselves, Be comfortable with who we are and who God made us to be.

Reflection

1. Are you comfortable in your own skin?
2. Do you love yourself?
3. List everything you love about yourself, and remind yourself everyday that you are beautiful or you are handsome, and you are who God made you to be.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Ask God to help you learn to love yourself or continue to love yourself.

If this is a area you struggle in or have a hard time with, please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns. I will answer them and talk to you and share with you.

I love you, know that your are beautiful on the inside and out. You are gorgeous, Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 180!