Give Yourself a Little Grace

“Give yourself a little grace,” my sister-in-law commented as she dumped the dust pan remains into the garbage during our Easter celebration clean up.

It was the second time I heard this message in just four short days.

My healthcare provider had said a similar thing, “Give yourself grace. Support your body physically and emotionally.”

It had been a theme lately.
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Clearly I wasn’t listening well and needed frequent reminders.

​After three plus years of looking for a house, the Lord provided the answer to our prayers. We’d moved in only two months earlier. I expected much of myself and I was floundering.

“How are you doing?” my husband asked. The question was sincere. He wanted to know: how was I doing? Really?

Yet I didn’t know the answer. I didn’t actually know how I was doing. I hadn’t made time nor space to assess, to look inward, to even know what I felt at that moment.

Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt 22:39)
As yourself.

Do you love yourself?

I don’t mean the selfish, ‘I want what I want right now, because I want what’s best for me’. That’s selfish. It’s not love.

I’m talking about the kind, patient, compassionate, gracious, truth examining, keep no record of wrongs kind of love defined in 1 Corinthians 13.

Do you have this kind of love for yourself?

Relationship with self is a delicate thing.

Scripture provides warnings against our heart’s deceitfulness (Jer 17:9). Yet we are also to have the mind of Christ (Rom 12:2, 1 Cor 2:16, Phil 4:7). We’re to think on whatever is true (Phil 4:8). We’re to believe about ourselves what the Lord says about us.

How do you talk to yourself?

As I reviewed the definition of love, and loving neighbor as self, the phrase that struck me was to keep no record of wrongs. Do I do that with myself?

Here I struggle. I lambast myself. “I did it again.” “When am I ever going to get it right?” “Why do I continue to struggle with this?”

Can you relate?

The Lord doesn’t talk to you like this. This barrage is not from Him.

Rather, He says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). None.

You and I need to believe the Lord’s loving, kind, inviting, and belonging words of truth communicated through the Word. And to tell the other thoughts to return to the pit.

So, what do you say, Momma? Would you give yourself a little grace?

I need to. It is a work, a practice, and I’m learning.

Would you learn along with me?

Here’s truth to remember as you go about your day:

You are loved. You’re doing a good job. It’s okay that you’re not perfect – You know the One who is.

What do you need to give yourself grace for today?

Please share in the comments below.

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