Caring As Deeply For Ourselves, As We Do Our Kids
You know “the cry.” That certain cry that is belted out after your child stubs their toe, scrapes their knee, or runs into the corner of the table. The tender-loving care we offer at that moment, well, in their eyes, nothing can compare. All they need is YOU.
Isn’t it amazing what a bandaid or kiss can do? The magical power they both offer!?
If only our “owies” were that easy to fix too.
I think so often as women, we are so quick to run to the rescue of others, that we forget to care for the “owies” within ourselves. In fact, we often think we do not have any. We keep trucking through life as if all is good, when deep down, if we let our minds go there, we hurt in some way or another. We either bear this mom guilt that weighs us down, we lack the self-confidence that we need to parent well, we are scarred by the words of others, we compare ourselves to the mom in the other vehicle, our kids remind us that we aren’t perfect, and when we look in the mirror, we only see what is broken, not what is beautiful.
What if we started to care for ourselves, as we do our own kids or those around us? You see, God sees us JUST AS IMPORTANT. Yes, we are to love our neighbor, but love them as we love ourselves. And if we do not love ourselves, how are we to love our neighbor? Or even our own kids? Or teach them to accept the love of Christ?
If we don’t nurture, care for, and love who GOD created us to be, how are we to nurture, care for, and love those around us? It’s nearly impossible, my friends.
And I stink at this. I am so quick to put a bandaid on my child, but when I bleed, I often say “eh, it’ll eventually stop.” Don’t you?
Of course I don’t just mean the physical scrapes that we get in life. I mean the emotional hurts and the words that cut deep, that we are so quick to push to the side. Christ’s love truly is unconditional and until we accept that for ourselves, we can’t fully understand the beauty of what it will mean for others.
Just imagine the capacity of love we wold have if we understood God’s love for us! Caring for ourselves is not being selfish. It is taking care of the very person God created you to be. Ya know, HE CARES ABOUT YOU TOO.
