Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Get a life! Thursday, June 3, 1999 Mark 12:31 Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." This is the second greatest commandment, and keeping it is possible only as the first (loving God with all my heart and soul and mind and strength) is realized. I experience more clearly His love for me as I choose to spend time with him, listen and talk with him, commit myself to him ... in short, love him. This great love I feel from him gives me confidence and allows me to love myself. And this is something that I naturally pass on to others; essentially I am allowing God's love to pass through me instead of choking it off. Understanding something of how love trickles down through my relationships, I feel more free to surrender control of my life to God. Released to be cherished and held close by my Father, I can stop throwing out garbage on my side of the street. In The Road Less Traveled, Scott Peck describes many ways by which I can live my life more lovingly. The first section of his book is titled "Discipline," another word for effective self-love. As one who loves and cares for myself, I can 1. stop procrastinating 2. delay gratification 3. stop taking inappropriate responsibility for others 4. start taking appropriate responsibility for myself Jesus opens his arms to the children and says, "Let the little ones come to me." I long for that invitation as an adult, yearning to be a child in God's eyes while growing up to be his companion for eternity. Relearning the art and skill of loving myself as he loves me, with all the wonderful corollaries and consequences, is a wonderful way to spend a life. "; Add      Edit    Delete