Love Yourself

Loving yourself is not terribly British.  Blowing one's own trumpet or singing one's praises seems unnecessary.

 

We Brits are far more likely to talk ourselves down, to feign 'humility' or 'modesty' by saying that we're not all that good at something actually, or we must have just got lucky.

 

We don't really celebrate ourselves (at least, not out loud for other people to hear us - for fear of seeming arrogant and conceited), and we don't really know how to love ourselves.

 

But until we can love and accept ourselves, we will never be able to truly love others.

 

You can't give something you haven't got.

 

There is an assumption throughout the Bible that we will love ourselves.  And love ourselves well.  In fact, Jesus said that the second most important command was for us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves [Matthew 22:39].

 

Loving ourselves is important.  It is fundamental.  Brene Brown writes,

 

"Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do."

 

And as Carrie Bradshaw says in Sex and the City -

"The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all, is the one you have with yourself."

 

I love this passage in Ephesians about love -

"Mostly what God does is love you.  Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us.  His love was not cautious but extravagant.  He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.  Love like that."
 

[Ephesians 5:2 MSG]

We can only love like that - giving everything of ourselves to others without trying to get something back - when we are secure in ourselves and when we have accepted God's love for us and have begun to love ourselves.

 

 

 

 

Let It Rain

I wouldn't feel very British if I didn't post about the weather and the inordinate amount of rain we have experienced over the last few days.

 

Despite the need for rain for watering the ground and helping the crops to grow, most of us would rather it didn't rain.  Ever.

 

I am happy for it to rain when I am inside and warm and I don't have to go out in it.  But when I have to drive in the rain, or walk in it, I hate it.  I hate that it soaks through your clothes and leaves you feeling damp and soggy.  I hate that it takes ages to warm up and dry out again.  I hate that it makes your hair big and fuzzy.

 

I don't often hear myself saying, Let it rain.

 

But these are the words of one of my favourite songs:

 

        "Let it rain, let it rain.

        Open the floodgates of Heaven.

        I feel the rains of your Love,

        I feel the winds of your Spirit .

        And now the heartbeat of heaven,

        Let us hear.

        Let it rain, let it rain.

        Open the floodgates of Heaven."

 

 

The words of this song are based on God's words in Isaiah:

 

       "You heavens above, rain down righteousness;
       let the clouds shower it down.
       Let the earth open wide,
       let salvation spring up,
       let righteousness grow with it;
       I, the Lord, have created it."

 

      [Isaiah 45:8 NIV]

 

 

Whilst we might not like the rain, it can be a sign that reminds us of God's goodness and grace and mercy and loving-kindness and forgiveness.  Falling on us and soaking us to the bone.

 

That's the kind of rain I want to be drenched in.