Today a Scribe approached Jesus and asked Him: “What is the first of all the commandments?” Naturally, Jesus replied what He had learned as a small child: “The Lord our God is Lord alone” and we are to “love the Lord our God with our whole heart, soul, and mind.”  Jesus goes on to say, “The second is this:  You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

For most of us, these words were etched on our minds and hearts at a very young age.  Hopefully, this continues to be true today. However, these words are so very familiar to us that we may not even “hear” them!  In essence, Jesus asks only two things of us: to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as ourselves.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

The challenge in this statement may be our ability to love ourselves as well as we love our neighbour. Most often it is easier to love and accept another person as they are. However, we may struggle to love ourselves as we are.     It often becomes automatic to criticize ourselves. Take a moment and list how you criticize yourself.  About what do you tend to criticize yourself: looks, choices, abilities, intelligence, or something else?

Today let us  examine the many ways you strive to love your neighbour, then examine the ways you love yourself.  Are you as loving and understanding with yourself as you are with your neighbour?  If not, let us try to be loving, accepting, and gentle with yourself today.

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