Be Gentle With Yourself
Be gentle with yourself.
A refreshing concept in a world that puts a lot of pressure on us.
Every day we're flooded with images of models and actors that we might feel like we need to look like. We have the pressure to succeed. Pressure to perform. Pressure, pressure, pressure.
All this pressure can make us be very hard on ourselves. Hard to be gracious with ourselves. Hard to forgive ourselves. Hard to look in the mirror and be OK with what we see. Hard to be OK with where we are at in our journey in life. It makes us hard to relax. Hard to rest.
And, it makes us hard to relate to others.
The harder we are on ourselves, the harder we can tend to be with others. We see ourselves in their mistakes and their imperfections. And, instead of forgiving and being gracious and merciful, we want to point a finger and condemn. We are as hard on others many times as we are on ourselves. If we are not gentle with ourselves, we will have a hard time being gentle with others.
Our Maker offers us a pressure-less place.
He says,
"COME to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
He is gentle with us and remembers that we are made of dust. He handles our hearts with gentleness.
The more we allow Him to handle us this way, the more we will handle ourselves (and others) in the same way.
A refreshing concept in a world that puts a lot of pressure on us.
Every day we're flooded with images of models and actors that we might feel like we need to look like. We have the pressure to succeed. Pressure to perform. Pressure, pressure, pressure.
All this pressure can make us be very hard on ourselves. Hard to be gracious with ourselves. Hard to forgive ourselves. Hard to look in the mirror and be OK with what we see. Hard to be OK with where we are at in our journey in life. It makes us hard to relax. Hard to rest.
And, it makes us hard to relate to others.
The harder we are on ourselves, the harder we can tend to be with others. We see ourselves in their mistakes and their imperfections. And, instead of forgiving and being gracious and merciful, we want to point a finger and condemn. We are as hard on others many times as we are on ourselves. If we are not gentle with ourselves, we will have a hard time being gentle with others.
Our Maker offers us a pressure-less place.
He says,
"COME to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
He is gentle with us and remembers that we are made of dust. He handles our hearts with gentleness.
The more we allow Him to handle us this way, the more we will handle ourselves (and others) in the same way.
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