Continuing my Lenten study of Jesus...
"But perhaps what is most radical here is also what is most often overlooked. It may one of the hardest aspects of the Christian faith to live. In these lines, Jesus invites us to a total love of God and a generous love of neighbor, but he assumes we already love ourselves. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is a connection between our ability to love ourselves in a healthy way and our ability to our love our neighbor. This is a major stumbling block for many of us as Christians. It is a generalization, but my experience leads me to conclude that many Christians do a horrible job of loving themselves. We are wrapped up in a self-loathing that is unhealthy. We are constantly judging ourselves in ways that are unproductive. We are often less willing to forgive ourselves than God is to forgive us. On the surface, of course, we pretend otherwise. But Jesus is not interested in the surface. He wants to drive deep down to the root of things.
I am not speaking of the love of self that is blind and boastful, but rather the love of self that acknowledges that we are weak and wounded, and at the same time we are amazing children of God. It's that unique combination of humility and gratitude that allows us to acknowledge (even if we don't understand it) that God loves us deeply, that he loves us for a reason, and that alone is proof that we are lovable.
We are lovable. You are lovable."
Sending you all lots of love.
Go change the world. Do it for Elijah.
Thank you.
Happy St. Patrick's day sweet boy.
I love and miss you so much.
Every day.
Always.
<3
No comments:
Post a Comment