THE SMALLEST FLOWER

Self-care and compassion through good times and bad

• You’ve had a tough day and you feel unworthy, unlovable and not good enough.

• Work has been overwhelming and you feel unappreciated

• Social media has left you feeling jealous and sad

• You’ve been arguing with a loved one and you feel unheard and lonely.

Sound familiar? Difficult challenges and tough days can leave you feeling undeserving of self-love, which is why it’s even more important to practice it intentionally.
Self-love is showing yourself kindness, understanding and care. It’s about consciously choosing to value your own wants and needs and fully appreciating your self-worth. Being self-loving means that you trust yourself, believe in yourself and treat yourself with respect. At the same time, self-love can involve gently pushing yourself to learn from difficult experiences and owning your mistakes. When you truly love yourself, you can acknowledge all your strengths and shortcomings, without judging yourself for those things. Instead, you embrace all that you are and encourage yourself to grow.
When tough days happen and challenges arise, it can be even harder to show yourself love.

Instead, you might want to:

• Beat yourself up over mistakes

• Regret things you did or said

• Deny yourself pleasure and enjoyment because you feel like you don’t deserve it

• Bottle up your feelings

• Engage in negative self-talk

This is why it’s so important to intentionally practice self-love. Often, when we feel like we don’t deserve self-love is when we truly need it the most.Not only does this allow you to be kinder towards yourself when you’re going through a difficult time, but it might help you learn and grow (rather than just beating yourself up) and move forward in positive and meaningful ways.

 Taken from “7 Ways to Practice Self-love When You’ve Had a Bad Day” by Rachael Kable, the creator of The Mindful Kind podcast. 

GOD’S MASTERPIECE

One thing I find fascinating about art is that the value of a masterpiece is determined by who made it.    A Picasso is valuable because of who painted it.   Experts in art decide that Picasso’s work stands out from his peers and a value is set on it. I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel like others have determined my value. And when I feel that way it’s not very often that comes out with a sum value of “priceless” or worth millions. 

However as I read Genesis, and the story of how God breathed life into a human, created him from the dust, shaped him into the likeness of God I’m reminded that the people around me do not determine my value.   Like a Picasso, my value is determined by my creator. 

What other people say about your family, your choices or your lifestyle does not determine your worth.   The number written on a pay slip does not determine your worth in society.  God has already determined your worth. 

How other people treat you because of your language, culture, or race, does not determine your worth.   We have worth not because of anything we have done but because of who created us.

 God created you as God’s masterpiece. 

Today, if you feel worthless because of something someone did, or said, remember that your value is more established than a Picasso painting.   You are valuable because God created you. When I remember that, I lean in to hear God tell me that I'm worthy, beautiful, loved and enough.  When God looks at me, God sees me as I really am: a pièce de résistance, a great and important work of art.   

Ponder: Do you believe that you have value simply because God created you? 

Prayer: Lord, I’m struggling to believe I'm valuable today help me to understand that my value comes not from others but from you. Thank you that I am your masterpiece, created in your image, to do good things that you planned for me long ago. Amen.

 Excerpts from a piece by Wendy van Eyck  http://www.ilovedevotionals.com/2015/07/whatyouareworth.html