Loving Others and Yourself

For me, the hardest part of Jesus' command to "Love the Lord you God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and your neighbor as yourself" is the loving of me. Like many women of a 'certain generation', we were trained to put others needs first as a way (the way) to be good and proper. Taking care of husband, children, friends' needs, etc. was supposed to come first and was the way to be a 'good' person.
There is nothing wrong with caring for others, of course. However, it can come at a cost to our own care and health. Then sometimes God has to really get our attention in ways that can be uncomfortable.
God did that for me just recently. Two weeks ago I thought I had a tummy bug, but pushed through to get some work done. A week ago I was in the hospital and last Monday I had unplanned surgery, Now I'm sitting at home recovering and evaluating what really is important and needful going forward.
I had allowed myself to overspend my personal resources and so I find myself having to let others take care of me. I'm on restriction from lifting over 15# and doing housework for at least 6 weeks. I hope I can use this time to listen to God and hear what really is important in my life and ministry going forward.
One blessing has been the many messages of love and affirmation from people telling me to take it easy and take care of myself because I am important to them in some way. Helps take the pressure off to prove myself by being all things to all people...
So...if you are caught in the cycle of putting everyone else ahead of your own needs, you might take a second to step back and consider Loving Yourself First.

And...because I need to listen to my own good advice...I'll be taking a small break from the weekly postings here. See you in September.