You are LOVE & You are LOVED

         This past Sunday while at church during worship team practice (yes, I’m on the worship team) they were talking about love and humility. Humility is bringing us to a place of LOVE and acceptance for ourselves. Isn’t it funny how hard it is to accept ourselves, flaws, and all yet, we are quick to accept others, we love flaws and all? I then took a leadership class where they were talking about core values and how you have core values for your business but then when you raise kids you have core values for your family. That got me thinking if I could only choose one core value that would trump everything else it would just be to teach my kids about LOVE.  Abraham Lincoln said “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”    

      We are all walking different paths and are on different journeys in life. I always tell my girls, “Don’t judge others just because they sin differently than you.”  I mean we are all just in perpetual beta mode as humans anyway, right?  Imagine if we taught our children, “When you don’t like someone, try getting to know them.”  “If you don’t understand someone, try getting to know them.” If you disagree with someone, try getting to see where they are coming from.” Agreement is not necessary nor required but understanding and respect should at least be a foundation. If we flip it, wouldn’t we want people to take the time to know us if they felt a certain way? Don’t understand me? Take the time to get to know me. Don’t agree with me? Take the time to see where I have been in life. Don’t “like” me? First, be sure you have taken the time to know me. 

    Acceptance is the ultimate form of love and we often judge because we most often judge ourselves…….please tell me I am not the only one who judges myself on a daily…  If LOVE is the baseline of what we teach our kids then everything else will follow. If we want them to work hard in life, let’s help them find what they love to do. If we want them to accept others, first we must teach them to love and accept themselves. If we want them to persevere, they have to love themselves enough to know they deserve all the great things in life.  So in this month of love, we are going to focus on the importance of not only spreading love to others but making sure that first and foremost we love ourselves wholly and fully. Your children are truly fearfully and wonderfully made and if nothing else comes from dance class but they come home loving themselves and feeling like they can take on the world, then our WHY has been fulfilled.  Parents remember, you too are fearfully and wonderfully made. There is no greater lesson or core value that we can teach our kids other than showing them what loving ourselves looks like.  Just in case you needed to hear this today, you are LOVE, and you are LOVED.