Be Loving with Yourself

We all know what the greatest commandment is right?

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

Matthew 22: 37-40

I often ask people, "why would Jesus tack that little thing on the end, the love yourself part? I mean would not be good enough to just say love God and love others? Why add myself into that?" I believe it is because we cannot love others well if we do not love ourselves. If I do not care for myself, love myself, by getting enough rest, setting limits on my work and what I can or cannot do, eat right, excercise, take care of my worries and anxiety in healthy ways, realize what I do and do not control, live seeing the world as a safe place, etc -I come home a grumpy old man that my wife and child want nothing to do with. I can't love them very well. Not only because they do not want to be around me, but I have nothing to offer them in the way of love because I am spent, worn out, tired, exhausted, angry, worried, distracted, and on the list goes.

I must take care of myself. I must love myself if I am to be in any shape to love someone else. I must forgive myself for my mistakes, be easy on myself, if I am to offer this to others. I must be peaceful with myself, not hard or angry with my self, if I am to have any idea of what it is like to be peaceful and loving with others. Loving myself this way helps me to learn compassion and when I am compassionate with myself - I have a gift that can be given away to others. I understand that they need what I have needed and given to myself. I want to give it to them.

In loving myself I am loving God. This is how God loves me, thinks about me, and acts towards me. This is how I need to treat myself, just as God does, this is also loving God with all my "passion, prayer, and intelligence." We can then think like Jesus and act like Jesus seeing people understanding them and that they are just like us. We can do what Jesus did here:

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion....

Matthew 14:14

Namaste'