Taking Care Of Ourselves

I was reading my blog reader & I came across this. It hit me & had to repost.

I pray that the Lord opens your eyes as he did mine.

Tuesday Testimony

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

In context Paul is actually speaking about sins of a sexual nature. But I want to focus more on the idea of honoring God completely with our bodies. Everything about what we do with and to our bodies should be done for the glory of God. Specifically from the point of view of a mother, I think it is very important to keep our bodies healthy and in good shape. Although, I seem to slack more on keeping my body in good shape lately.

When you have little ones, it’s important to be able to keep up with them and stay healthy for them. I remember someone once telling me something that has stuck with me. If you are flying on a plane and have a child with you, it is very important for you to put the breathing mask on yourself first before the child, if trouble happens. The first instinct of any loving parent is to place the mask on their child first, and then themselves. But if something were to happen to the parent they wouldn’t be able to help the child, thus making it very important for the parent to get the mask first.

I think this helping our children first instinct keeps us from caring for ourselves at times. I know that I will sometimes forget to eat something, because I am just thinking about my children eating. Sometimes I forget that I need “me time” in order to get some rest. And regretfully so, I don’t spend time in the Word as often as I should, because I get caught up in the busyness of motherhood.

Sometimes when we think we are putting our children first, we can actually be harming them. Children need parents who are healthy, and have a good relationship with the Lord. As the good old saying goes, “If you can’t love yourself, then you can’t love others.” And the same goes for God. To truly love Him, you need to love and care for yourself. He made you and loves you, and He needs to be honored by your body. Take care of yourself and love yourself, for I truly believe that this is also showing love to our Maker and others.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14

His works are wonderful, and you are His work. It’s so easy to not care for ourselves because of time, or just because we think we aren’t worth it. If the Lord took the time to actually “knit” you together, then He must have thought you were worthy. Realize that you are worthy, take care of His creation, and show love to Him and others through the care of your own body, mind, soul and spirit first.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40

I’d be interested to hear what sort of tips you all have for finding time to take care of ourselves. It seems like life is so busy, and it is easy to forget about ourselves. What do you think we could do to ensure that we spend the appropriate time needed in order to love ourselves?

You can find the original post here