On The Faithful Wanderer, I’ve made several posts and mentions about Matthew 5:44—love your enemies. It goes hand-in-hand with Matthew 22:39—Love your neighbor as yourself.

We’ve taken these two verses—which are two phenomenal statements—and blown them up to a point where we forget something important.

To love ourselves.

You see, there’s a catch with Matthew 22:39—love your neighbor as yourself. If you don’t love yourself, how will you love your neighbor? If you cannot take the time to love yourself then how can you be expected to love others?

Neighbor, you need to love yourself.

Loving others doesn’t mean “focus on taking care of others but not yourself.”

We won’t be loving others in the way God created us to love if we are not caring for ourselves. God wants us to love others and to love ourselves—and sometimes this means letting others love us.

Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, Self-Love Does Not Mean Selfish, self-love does not mean by-yourself-love.

Community is so important to humans! Our mental health literally cannot survive if we are alone—and that’s not how God made us.

So what is your job?

First: Let yourself love others. Take a friend out for coffee, write someone a note. Smile at the cashier in the store, ask how their day is going.

Second. Let others love you. Let someone give you a hug. Let yourself be open to them. Let someone help when you need it.

Third: Love yourself. Take a nap. Watch a movie. Go for a walk. Do something that you love and enjoy it!

Fourth: Repeat. That’s pretty self-explanatory.

Loving is not a complicated thing but sometimes we make it more complicated, especially when it comes to ourself. We feel guilty, right? “I feel bad for asking for help…” If someone asked you for help, I bet that you would be more than happy to help.

You are not a burden!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 NIV

I hope you have a great day—and if you ever need prayer, feel free to click this link and type out your prayer request. I’d love to pray for you and whatever is going on! <3
~Willow