Lack Love

We are called to love, but do we do it well? How we love is complicated. Love thy neighbor as thyself is a truth Jesus set as one of the most important commandments. I suggest that we are often lacking in love because of three areas: self-love, self-awareness, and self-care. Without these, we lack love, awareness, and care for ourselves but also for others.

I recently talked with a woman who said she resented her past. She was distraught and instead of forgiveness, sat in bitterness. I understood how she felt. I had been processing grief and when I could not get over it, I rehearsed a lot of negative self-talk. When I couldn’t process it fast enough, I became impatient with myself and practiced even more, defeating self-talk. How do you treat yourself through the hard things in life? How well do you love? 

If you are hard on yourself, you may also be hard on others too.

To love well, we need to look at how we love ourselves. 

Jesus also said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This first commandment points us to a loving Father that loves us in a way that we often can't comprehend because His love surpasses any human love or example we have experienced. It is this love that we need to apply to ourselves. 

We must be kind and gentle with ourselves as the Father is with us. 

This is where awareness comes in. Are you aware of how God loves you? Are you aware of how you treat yourself? We can't care for ourselves well if we are not self-aware enough to evaluate our self-talk. 

I still struggle to treat myself the way Jesus does. 

But I am called to love and I want to do it well. Self-care helps me to care for others. It reminds me of God’s great love for me and the preciousness of life and health. Moments of caring for myself fill me to overflow to others. 

I don’t want to lack. Do you?

Dearest Heavenly Father, please open our eyes to Your love for us. Make us self-aware of how we treat ourselves. Help us love ourselves and others. Teach us to have self-love through self-awareness and to practice self-care so that we can glorify You by loving others well. In Jesus' name, we ask, Amen.