When you hear the phrase Love Yourself, your first thought is probably Beibs' new song, because that song is definitely my go-to song right now. Loving yourself is actually a concept that not many think about in every day life, because they choose to find love in others. Personally, I put so much of myself into everything I do, and I spread myself thin and pour my time and attention into all of my closest friends that most of the time there is not much left for myself.
A couple of weekends ago I went on a retreat, and on the last night we did something that was out of most people's comfort zone. One of our leaders said that we only felt awkward because it was forcing us to be vulnerable and forcing us to be open.
Vulnerable (adj): susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm.
Most people struggle with vulnerability because everyone wants to appear strong in the eyes of others. I know I definitely do. We all find our strength in different things that we do, and some of us may have taken a test to find out what our top five strengths are and how that defines you, but it is our weaknesses that can either close us off from the world or open us up to things that we could have never imagined. It depends on just how you choose to present your weakness.
As one of my good friends say, “It is OK to not be OK.”
That speaks real truth to everything in life. If you are consistently forcing yourself to be closed and appear strong, then you never have room in your life for personal growth or for any type of relationship with anyone, especially God. Take time to find out who you truly are on your own and not relying on someone else. Take time to cry when life knocks you down.Take time to view your flaws as being treasures that God crafted you to be and take time to pour into God. My favorite bible verse: Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” God handpicked all of our features and made us perfect in His eyes, we just have to see ourselves as He sees us.
If you are not confident in yourself, then what are you confident in? If you cannot love yourself then who can you love? It all starts with a relationship with God and that can start with any small step, whether it is time spent in solitude praying, journaling or even in His word we can find out who we are. 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 talks about how our weaknesses make His power perfect.
Having confidence in your life is the base for having confidence over everything that we do in our lives. Opening up to God will open yourself up to others and will allow other relationships to flourish, and all the walls you’ve built up from past pain and hurt will come tumbling down. Most importantly, it will open you up to loving yourself.
