They say that in order to love others, you must first love yourself. But why is that? Why can't I just ignore myself and the things I need in order to put others first and just focus on them. Isn't that Biblical or something? To love God and love others. Yeah..... I'll just love God and others and not worry about myself.
Here's the catch though, we can't give what we don't have. I can't give love if I don't actually have and understand and know love. If I don't love myself how can I then love anyone else? I'm even going to find it hard to love God and understand His love for me and others when I won't love myself or allow Him to really love me. If I don't understand and accept love for myself, how can I know what it even is to love others.
I recently heard Brene Brown say "I don't trust people who don't love themselves but say I love you." When we don't love ourselves others can see that and will find it hard to trust our profession of love to them. "Be wary the naked man offering you a shirt"..........
It's so easy to overlook ourselves for the sake of others, but that's not actually healthy or helpful. Let's make sure we're loving ourselves well and then we can love others.
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