Love someone to love yourself, pray for someone else.
October 16, 2007
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I received an email this morning. The United Church of Christ is telling everybody for a month that it is good to give and to give liberally. I love these readings. This morning I read again the following advice, well worn in some ways and true as ever.
Without loving ourselves we cannot love others. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (Luke 10:27b) Which of us doesn’t know that it’s hard to care well about others when we’re weak or down on ourselves? What makes us selfish is doubt about our own value and strength: we seek rather than share love and assurance.
But I wonder sometimes. There are those days when it is very hard to love yourself. You know those days. You get up in the morning and the feeling just isn’t there.
What to do? Try this. Love someone else. As my pastor reminds us, love is a do word. That means that you cannot love someone without doing something about it. I mean, you can, but that defeats the purpose. Love isn’t all about feeling inside, it is about action as well.
Love someone and the action of loving someone will end up making you feel better about yourself. It is true, you have to try it to know it. Praying for someone else brings you closer to God, and it is therefore as if you are praying for yourself. It is a similar process. So if you are alone and not likely to meet someone in the day, someone you can love on, pray for someone. You can learn to love yourself, by praying for someone else.
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