I don’t know what I would do without music.  It’s one thing that can keep me going on those days where my fatigue is just getting the best of me.  It’s very common in my house to hear my iPod blasting music with me singing and dancing around the kitchen like an idiot either cleaning or cooking.  I realized the other day when thinking about this post that there is a lot of music that talks about love.  Love going right and love gone bad.  Why do you think that is?

I’m linking up with my friend Holley Gerth and joining her Coffee for Your Heart challenge. Each Wednesday she asks us to encourage our readers with a theme and guess what this week’s theme is – You’re Loved.  Well how about that?  (smile).

I think there is a very good reason why so many songs talk about love.  We all have a strong desire to be loved.  It’s part of our human nature. But how good are you at loving yourself?  I’m not talking about thinking you are all that and a bag of chips kind of loving yourself.  I mean really accepting how your Father created you.  I think all too often we feed ourselves with negative talk.  I think this really grieves God.  He created you with a plan and a purpose.  Uniquely designed just for you.  Doubting yourself and putting yourself down defeats His plans for you. He loves you more than you can even imagine and He wants you to share that love…with others…and yourself.  As a matter of fact, I don’t believe you can love well unless you truly love yourself.  Jesus’ greatest command to us is found here:

Mark 12:30-31
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.  There is no greater commandment than these.

As you can see, this love thing is pretty important to God.  But notice that He tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Hmmmm…I think if we aren’t good at loving ourselves…we may not be so good at loving others.  If we are tearing ourselves down, how can we build others up?  So, give yourself a break.  Remember that you are loved beyond measure by a God who knows all your flaws.  But you know…they serve a purpose too.  They help us to rely on Him and they help us to grow.  If you have trouble grasping that you are loved, ask someone for help.  Don’t waste another day not knowing the freedom and grace that God can give you.

His love never fails…it never gives up…it never runs out.  And because I love music so much I leave you with this (smile):