LOVE IS....

"Love your neighbor as yourself." --Matthew 22:39

So here we are again. Yes, it is Friday. But it is also one of the few days on the calendar that can stir up renewed happiness in some while sending others in a funky mood. It is Valentine's Day. Some of you may be looking forward to special gifts and dinner, and some of you may be looking forward to midnight when this day is officially over. No matter the category you fall in, one thing stands true. We can all practice a little more self love. Not the prideful, narcissistic type of self love, but one that celebrates the fact that you are uniquely made by the Creator of all things good. Even God's Word speaks on loving ourselves as it is tied to loving our neighbors. And the familiar love chapter in the Bible (1 Corinthians 13) plainly lays out what love is and what it does and does not do. But have you ever thought about this chapter when it comes to loving yourself? Here are just a few verses that I want you to explore in a different way:

Verse 4: "Love is patient..."

I must ask you...how patient are you with yourself? Do you get upset with yourself when it takes you too long to grasp a new task or when life is completely out of whack? Or do you give yourself the room to just not have it all together and understand that it is okay to be in that place? If love is patient and God says that is okay to love ourselves, then you need to know that it is more than okay to also show yourself a little more patience as you go through life.

Verse 4: "...love is kind."

So here's the next question. How kind are you to you? Do you speak words of life to yourself, or do you let the negativity flow like that of a poetic artist? When you look at yourself in the mirror, and I hope that you do, what do YOU see? Do you see a beautiful daughter or creation of the Most High, or do you automatically look at ourself in disgust? There are many other areas in our lives where we can show more kindness to the person looking right back at us in the mirror. And the Lord has already given us the go ahead to treat ourselves with as much kindness as we are expected to show others around us.

Verse 5: "...it keeps no records of wrongs."

If I were to ask you about all of the mistakes that you made just today, am I right in thinking that you would have no issue listing them out? How about the mistakes and the stuff you did even though you knew better from the past? It is often that we can hold tightly to the wrong things that we have done throughout our lives like our next breath depends on them, but this verse is clear: Don't keep them. As you learn to love yourself a little more than you did before, allow your grip to loosen on your wrongs from past and present. Love does not torture by pulling out filed away wrongdoings in order to keep what it is loving held hostage. Learn from your mistakes and love yourself enough by handing them over to God so that He can toss them in the sea of forgetfulness.

And I get it. I know that the self love speech especially for singles on Valentine's Day can seem like a cop-out message, but this is for all of us at any time of the year. Be inspired to love on you so that you will be able to truly love those around you. You are worth it!!

And whether or not you have a date tonight, I encourage you to check out the flavor of the month at Baskin Robbins. It is called 'Date Night', and it is amazing!!! It is made up of chocolate and salted caramel ice cream and has a salty caramel ribbon and mini caramel cups throughout. It will only be here for the month of February, so stop by your local BR spot grab a scoop or two :-D

Love y'all, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo by Brendan Church on Unsplash