Motivational Monday #2: Self Love

/ Faith / By

Monday Motivation: Self Love

Mothers are professional lovers. We love our people, like hard. My kids hear that I love them no less than 20x a day. When they leave a room or the car, they get told “I love you.” I clean, I cook, I do laundry, and then repeat because I love my house and the ones that live in it. I love my husband. I am pretty sure he hung the moon, and he looked hot doing it. You get it, we love our people. But… Do you love yourself? Self Love gives me an uneasy feeling. Is loving yourself selfish or conceited? Is it prideful? 

 

I honestly wasn’t sure, but I knew that I haven’t been all that kind to myself with my thoughts, actions, and eating habits. And that doesn’t feel good, so I was pretty sure God had/has something to say about loving ourselves. Here is what I found…

 

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” 

Genesis 1:27

 

We (you and I) were created in His own image. We are not just an accident or a mass of living cells. We were created by the creator. This kind of blows my mind. I think about how Martin and I had a part in building our house. We designed it (with professional help) from the ground up. We wanted every inch to be beautiful and purposeful. So much care and attention went into the home building process. Imagine the God of creation doing the same thing when he created you and me, but he doesn’t do anything without perfection. So if you love God and all of God’s creations- we should and need to love ourselves.

 

“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

Matthew 12:31

 The 2nd commandment that Jesus teaches us is about loving others. He said to love them like you love yourself. Therefore, I think it is important (LIKE MAJORLY) to love ourselves, so we can in return love others the same way.

I, honestly, think that women often execute this commandment backwards. We love ourselves after loving others and we just simply don’t have much left. But this commandment implies we need to love ourselves first in order to love our neighbors. 

 

Please don’t forget the 1st commandment- LOVE YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, MIND, and BODY! Loving ourselves and others can not be done well without loving God first.

My Prayer

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” 

Psalm 139:14

Dear Lord, I am praying this Psalm over all the women reading this post today. I pray that, like David, we praise you for creating us in a wonderful way. I pray that our confidence in ourselves does not come from our outward beauty or from our own power, but from you. You remind us in your word over and over again how loved we are, how precious we are to you. Because you lived and died for us, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Please help us to see ourselves the way you see us. Help us be more like you in how we treat ourselves and others. Amen.

 

Next Steps:

  • Write down ways you can show yourself love each day, check your list at the end of the day to see how you did. Make a new list for tomorrow.

  • Read, meditate, and journal over these verses (one verse/day).

    • Philippians 4:8

    • Song of Songs 4:7

    • 1 Samuel 16:7

    • Ephesians 2:10

    • Ephesians 5:29

    • 1 Corinthians 16:14

    • Proverbs 10:12

  • Take a verse from above and write in on a posted note. Put it on your mirror in your bathroom. Pray that verse over yourself as you get ready each morning.

  • Listen to What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong Worship

    • Listen for the lyric “Your hidden beauty in creation, now revealed in You our Christ” (YOU are his creation= YOU are beautiful)

  • Share this Monday Motivation with someone you think is amazing and struggles with seeing how beautiful they are.

  • Come back next week for another Monday Motivation, God willing.