Over the years the first commandment Jesus encouraged us to observe was to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, strength, and mind. On face value this encapsulates all of our being which for most of us is made up of the parts we like and like to show others as well as the parts we don’t like and we prefer to hide in the dark.
Now in my own life I am discovering that the best way to see this commandment fulfilled is to actually embrace and love every part of myself and not just the sides I am proud of. You see, when I only embrace the side that I am happy with I also allow God to only embrace this part of me and not the whole of my being. Now the funny thing is that we do this out of shame and false pretense as we think that God somehow is not aware of it or perhaps doesn’t want to know about it or go there as he is only interested in what is clean, whole, and shinny. Yet, the reality is that God is already there within our darkness and is very interested in it as it is here that he wants us to understand first how much and how well he loves us in spite of this hidden place within us.
I would love today to encourage all of us to begin the day by giving ourselves a big hug and embrace as much as we can of ourselves. As we do this let us close our eyes and ask Dad to helps us see from within which areas we are holding back from him that prevent him from giving us the unconditional hug and embrace we all long for and need.
Remember the only way we are going to see the first commandment consistently fulfilled in our lives, is if we start doing what it says with the whole of ourselves. I firmly believe that as we do this we will slowly but surely begin to see and feel God, as He has been all along, doing the same in return.
-pablo-
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