This is actually a perfect segue into what I wanted to talk about today: love and acceptance. The priest today gave an excellent sermon about loving yourself the exact way you are. Same old story about not being unhappy with the way you look but given with such joy and belief in the words that it was like the idea had never been voiced before! This is definitely a priest I will be returning to hear more from!
One of the things that he said was that God made each one of us "with big ears or a lump on the nose," stepped back, and said "This one is my absolute favorite so far!" What a beautiful thought :)
For myself, I switched this to describe the inside rather than the outside: God made my personality the way He did for a reason! Trying to be someone else or at the very least hiding my truest thoughts and opinions for fear of what others might be thinking is such a waste of the specific way He made me! I know this with my whole mind and heart yet this fear has had a ruling hold on my life for so long that the thought of living without it is, for me, the most intoxicating of dreams. Just imagine, though, if each one of us embraced the unique mix of gifts and talents that we were given rather than always thinking we should have different ones.
 |
| Thanks Genie! Don't look annoyed Aladdin....you need to hear it! |
One thing my fiance's family does that I love in theory but have trouble experiencing myself is their tradition of honoring each other on their birthdays or at special milestones. Since it was my birthday dinner tonight they each took turns saying wonderful things about me. Let me just tell you it was SO hard for me to listen! I wanted to curl up under the table while they were talking so no one could see me and then return each nice thing said with compliments for each of them. Neither of these are the point of this exercise however: you must sit and completely take in the honoring. You cannot turn the compliments away; you must accept them, OWN them. For this one day in the year you are given only the nice parts of yourself so you can stop focusing on the negative. How hard and yet how necessary! See- I told you I was lucking out with in-laws!
"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one." This excellent quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is a good way to summarize my point in this post. Know yourself; know your weaknesses, and know your strengths. In this way, in each moment of the day, we can be truly useful. I pray in this moment that YOU, dear reader, may know yourself and love yourself. Say the same prayer for me :)
What is your favorite thing about yourself?
No comments:
Post a Comment