Be Kind To Yourself

God Morning, Friends!!!

Sometimes....I just like to share other people's thoughts with you....especially when they hit so close to home...so close to my own heart!!! I have a very bad habit of making fun of myself...putting myself down...and that's what this is all about. I think I've mentioned before that I get a daily e-mail from "Tim's Inspiration". I often just save them, and then go back and read them when I have time. This one really hit home.....do you see any of yourself in this little story??? If not...maybe you can relate it to a friend....a family member....a co-worker. If you can't use it to help yourself....be sure and share it with somebody else who might could use some encouragement!!!

(courtesy of www.timsinspiration.com)

Romans 8:16-18 - The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

"Linda, if beating yourself up were an Olympic sport, you'd win a gold medal!"

Annabel, my close friend, stunned me with that blunt observation after I told her how I had mishandled a situation with a student in a third-grade class where I was substituting. "I should never have let him go to the boy's room without a pass! It was my fault he got into trouble with the hall monitor! I'm so stupid!"

My friend burst out laughing, and then made her "Olympic" comment. After a brief period of reflection I had to admit that she was right. I did put myself down an awful lot. Why, just during the previous day I had called myself "a slob" for having some papers spread out on my desk, "ugly" when I left the house without makeup and "an idiot" when I left the house for an emergency substitute job without my emergency lesson plan.

In a more reflective tone, Annabel said, "I once took a workshop at church where the woman in charge had us list all the mean things we say about ourselves.""How many did you have on your list?" I asked."Fifteen," she confessed. But then the teacher said, `Now turn to the person next to you and say all the items on your list as if you were speaking to that person!' My jaw dropped. "What did you do?" "Nothing. Nobody did. We all just sat there, until I said, `I could never say these things to anyone else!' And our teacher replied, `Well, if you can't say them to anyone else, then don't ever say them to yourself!' My friend had a point. I would never insult a child of God - and I'm God's child, too!

God, today let me be as kind to myself as I would be to another of Your children.

I can so relate to this little scenario.....because I say mean things about myself....often out loud....that I wouldn't dream of saying to anybody else. Hopefully, this will make me stop and think....because, like the story says....I'm a child of God, too!!!

In His Most Precious Love....and with mine!!!