November 4, 2022

Romans 12:3-13

John 10:11-16

It is about 4:30 AM and I am wide awake. I ran out of sleep an hour ago and here I am on my rest day not really resting. Don’t you just hate that when it happens? So I might delete this reflection because.… well not really thinking right.

I have a question to ask you, a very pointed question. Do you find it easy to do for others? Are you the kind of person who springs into action to help another? If yes then here is a second more important question. Are you terrible at doing for yourself? Have you been told that you are too hard on yourself.? There are probably about 10 people in the world who would do anything for others but cannot find the time and courage to truly give the same gift to themselves. To you 10 listen very carefully.

When our Lord said, “the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself “ the emphasis was on “yourself”. I have been trained, raised to neglect self and serve others but truly truly what good is that?? Don’t get me wrong, it gives me much joy and sense of satisfaction to lay down my life but is it a distraction from self care sometimes?

I preach forgiveness but I fail miserably in forgiving myself. I preach patience yet find myself impatient with myself. So today give yourself a good Kentucky Hug. Oh our Lord was so smart. He knew that unless we truly love ourselves, unless we know on an embarrassing level how to tenderly hold ourselves, forgive ourselves, we really are no good to others.

I know of a family who thought teenage pregnancy would never happen in their family. Well it did and it almost broke them. They had to accept that they were just like any other family who struggles with these things. The sad part was that the mother was asked to step down from the parish council because Father (the priest) thought it was a bad idea to have such a family in leadership. Well that is a whole nother blog.

Back to self care. … well I ran out of words. Just be gentle with yourself and do not beat yourself up for being a vulnerable human (well chose carefully with whom you are vulnerable).