Love your neighbor-- Part 2

 “You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
Luke 22:39 NRSV

Have you ever looked at something and suddenly seen it in a new way?  It can be something that's part of your everyday life, something so familiar that you usually don't see it.  Then, one day, the light hits it in a new way and you see something you'd never seen before.

I feel that way about this scripture.  I'd heard it and preached it for years and really only saw it in one way--actually, I'd only REALLY heard a part of it-- the part that says "love your neighbor".  The "as you love yourself" part was, in my brain, just an add-on, a reference point, and not as important as the first part.

Then one day, a mentor of mine flipped my reading of this around. "What if you really treated your neighbor as you treat yourself, Andrea? How would your neighbor react if you forced them to stay up too late and get too little sleep?  What if they were stressed out, and you just kept pushing them to keep going?  What if they were hungry and you fed them food they were allergic to, and fed them non-nutritious junk?  What if they kept telling you something important about their health, and you just ignored them?" 

I got the point. My neighbor would be seriously ticked off with me, and would have something to say about it.

This passage from Luke goes on the assumption that we treat ourselves better than we treat others, yet many women and men have learned to treat others generously, at the expense of their own health and well-being.

If my neighbor had an allergy, I would do everything I could to bring them food that was nurtitious and appropriate for them.  If my neighbor messed up, I wouldn't be mean and call them stupid, or tear them down~ no!  I would be understanding, forgiving and would help them know they were vaulable.  If my neighbor were ill, I would encourage them to be gentle on themselves, and would help them out so they wouldn't push themselves...

...the exact opposite of what I often do for myself.  Caring for onesself is not selfish.  It is good stewardship, and it allows us to care for others more freely. 

I was reminded of the need to care for myself the other day when a loyal reader of this blog saw a post I made on facebook where I was lamenting being exhausted. She simply and generously reminded me that self-care is an important part of Chronic hope.  In this wilderness of chronic illness, we already have so many difficult things that we deal with on a daily basis, we don't need  to make it worse, or put more roadblocks in our way.

Today I invite you as part of your Chronic Hope journey, to flip the saying and challenge yourself to "love yourself as you love your neighbor".  What does that mean for you today?  What attitudes or actions do you routinely share with others that you may withhold from yourself? 

I challenge us all to take one step toward self care and self love today, not as a selfish thing, but so that we may more fully be able to fulfill Jesus' command to love others.

Loving God, you desire us to live in love in all ways-- with you, with others and within ourselves.  Open our eyes to attitudes today that may making loving ourself difficult, and fill us with your love in such abundant ways that it overflows into our own hearts and lives, and into the lives of others. Amen.