We Must Love Ourselves to Love Others

Sacred by Design

The sacred voice of God calls you beloved. Can you hear it? Shame and rejection may be loud in your day to day.
For now, let’s set down our megaphones of criticism. Consider what it would sound like and feel like and look like to embrace your belovedness, and learn that We Must Love Ourselves to Love Others.
Let’s get ready.

Highlights:
Many of us believe that being a good Christian means we focus entirely on others, that we ignore ourselves.But, when we don’t care for ourselves, we can fall into patterns of self-rejection.
God created you out of love, for love. You have a unique presence here and now. And, God wants to nurture you into wholeness. Believe that you belong and you’re enough.
Daily Prayer: “God, help me receive your love so I can give it out to others.”
Take time to Reflect on your thought life:

• Do you spend a lot of time comparing yourself to other people?
• Is it hard for you to feel like you are enough?
• Do you think your thoughts about yourself are more patient or impatient?
• As you reflect on your thoughts, are you often kind yourself or are you discouraging and judgemental?
• Do you come down hard on yourself when you are not coping well or not doing the right thing all the time?

What we fill our mind with creates our thoughts. Our thoughts are what create our feelings; our feelings create our behavior, and our behavior our character. - Dallas Willard
Affirmations:

• I am loved.
• I am accepted.
• I belong.
• God you created me and You love me.
• God, You never leave me and You’re always with me.
• There’s nothing I can do to earn your love or lose your love.
• You encourage me to love you and myself.
• You have given me power to love and to overcome.

Henri Nouwen - “Over the years I’ve come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, ‘well that proves again that I am a nobody.’ Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the beloved.”
Resources:
Song “Belovedness” by Sarah Kroger
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