I Love Myself

September 3rd:

Yep. I said it. I love myself! I mean, what's not to love?! Don't answer that question.

I guess what I'm trying to say in this post is that I do NOT, in any way, hate, or even dislike, myself.

I know a lot of people who hate something or other about themselves: their body type, their grade point average, their inability to get the girl/guy they like, their voice/laugh/smile, ect. ect. I think it's fine to dislike a couple things about yourself - but when it gets to the point where you define yourself by the things you dislike about yourself and it becomes a dislike of yourself as a WHOLE, we have a problem. (that last sentence was a mouthful - read it out loud!) See, I don't like my laziness (and resulting lack of a healthy amount of exercise), but I don't let my distaste for that particular personality trait rule my sense of self worth! You don't have to love everything ABOUT yourself, but you should love YOU.

"Why should I love myself - who I am?" you say?

Because you were created by God. Like Psalm 139:13-16 says, God made us "fearfully and wonderfully"; who are we to think that we aren't worth being loved?!

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
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.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be."

I've talked to a couple people in my high school years who have confessed to me that they dislike themselves. They didn't think they were "good enough" or were worthy of love/friends/life. Their inability to look past the few things they disliked about themselves made their mindset so twisted, they thought God's beloved creation wasn't worth loving. I think self-loathing can start with a simple fixation on one thing: "I'm not as skinny as _____" or "_____ gets better grades than me". Having that thought once or twice is normal, but lemme say this: comparing yourself to others RARELY builds esteem when the thing you're keen on is something you define yourself by.

Instead of always thinking about the things you DISLIKE about yourself, could you just try thinking about your great traits? "I can run really fast!", "I was a good friend this week to _____", or "That was the best tart I have ever baked!" I wish more of the people I know would remember how flipping awesome they are instead of always worrying that they're not good enough for ______ (fill in the blank).

Of course, there's the other end of the spectrum which is the side that usually gets me into trouble: vanity. I know I'm vain, I DO love myself - but perhaps I am too fixated on HOW MUCH I love myself, and should spend more time loving others.

A part of me thinks that you can't truly love someone else if you don't first love God, then love who He made you to be.

There's this song I heard recently that made me think "I can hear God singing this to all of us". It's "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)" by Ne-Yo, but I've only heard the Glee version, so that's what you're getting:

http://youtu.be/m0xg8_VvFFI

I kinda rambled on a lot in this post. If you have any comments/questions, please don't hesitate to post them here, on fb, or text me :)

Keep it classy and love yourself for once!!!