what i learned best from the recently-concluded camp meeting is that we do not love a person because he or she is lovable, but because the love of God is as a spring of water welling in our hearts, allowing us to love truly and deeply God and others and ourselves.
yes, we ought to love ourselves. the Bible does say, "love thy neighbor as thyself." Pastor Patrick Herbert of the Gilead Institute of America once said in a public meeting, "Do not allow yourself to be hurt unnecessarily." Jesus Christ has bought us with a price, even His own blood, so it's only right for us to take really good care of ourselves, and exert the same care for others. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." (Philippians 2:4)
so as I am enabled to receive the love of God in my heart, i am learning to love myself and i am learning to share this very self with others so they too can share in the love that springs in God and flows through me.
and i am learning, too, to know and understand that this same love flows through him and her and them and you, that i must give and receive and give again.
in the end, it's true: God is love, love makes us one, love makes the world go round.
open your heart and let the love flow.
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