A summary of the spiritual message delivered on February 1, 2015
LYRICS – ‘BEAUTY’
I wake up everyday with a smile from inside
upon my face and I breathe
Then I thank the world for letting me dream
I look in my own eyes, the reflection of a girl
who’s not your average size
But I know love comes to those who see
where the real beauty lies
I know I’m not perfect, But I know I’m worth it
I love without shame in a world that loves blame
I am so proud of all that I’m made of
And every mistake I have yet to make
Because it’s the scars that tell my story
There’s so much more to me than what meets the eye
And if I’m able to bleed, I know that means I’m alive
And I will keep going, though it’s hard to climb
Because the best part of life is when you mess up
And I refuse to give up
Each day that I falter I will work a little harder
To believe in myself when there’s nobody else
to convince me
That I am made of Beauty
I am Beauty
I sit and wonder why every day
I used to let pass by is now gone
How could I slumber and sleep through the dawn
Now I stand tall and strong holding my head high in the middle of it all
And I know love comes to those fight for the fairest of all
Now I know that choosing, trying and loosing
Is better than making no choice at all
And I know that living, loving, and giving
Is more than enough to heal the furthest fall
~Melissa Modifer
MESSAGE
Many of us believe that what stops us from having a more meaningful and fulfilling life is something we’re missing. We think we’re not smart enough, intelligent enough, talented enough, rich enough, educated enough, disciplined enough, or as hard-working as we need to do. In realty, there’s something much deeper that many of us overlook … and that’s how worthy we actually feel we are of experiencing a better life. Our own level of worthiness is what determines how much goodness, greatness, happiness and success we are able to experience in our lives … and our self-worth is directly related to how much we love ourselves: how much we accept, believe in, honor and respect ourselves.
Loving ourselves increases our worthiness … and that, in turn, opens us to attract and experience more good in our lives.
This week’s message is inspired by Melissa Modifer’ Beauty, a song she wrote about her journey to find and embrace her own beauty, and to learn to take pride in herself. One line says, “I’m not perfect, but I know that I’m worth it.”
Melissa says she wrote the song because she finally reached a place in her life where she could look at herself in the mirror – with no makeup or fancy clothes – and actually see the love in her own eyes that she felt for herself. She had been through some difficult challenges, and was feeling sad and alone, when she realized the reason she felt so drained and unloved was because she wasn’t really lovingherself. It was through that journey of learning to love herself that she actually discovered who she was. She found her voice, and began dedicating her life to sharing her gifts and talents to uplift others who couldn’t find their own self worth.
A recent article titled, How to Create a Great Life states that, in order to improve your life you must increase your level of worthiness and self-love. The most debilitating thing you can is feel that you’re not worthy … because that belief limits and restricts the amount of love and life you let into your heart, and also the degree of success, happiness and joy you are able to experience. Loving yourself isn’t narcissistic or egocentric; it’s an important part of our spiritual work. Indeed, it’s our spiritual responsibility. The first commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, body and strength, and the second commandment is to love others as you love yourself!
Many of us don’t recognize what little worth we place on ourselves. We say we want certain things, but then subtly self-sabotage ourselves through our unconscious belief that we don’t really deserve that much good in our lives. In a relationship that’s going well, we get scared and uncomfortable, and don’t know how to handle it … so we pick a fight to push the person away. When we experience a certain degree of success, we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy it. We start stressing that we won’t be able to handle it, that we might lose it, or we start to feel guilty. If things are going smoothly, we start worrying that something’s going to go wrong soon. All of these are signs that we don’t feel worthy of the good that is trying to flow into our lives.
The way to expand and break through to a greater life, greater financial success, and greater joy and peace, is simply to love and value ourselves … because the more worthy we feel, the more we will attract the things that we are seeking our lives.
Following are three ways in which we can increase our level of self-worth and self-love.
First, we must embrace the truth of who we are. Scripture tells us that we are created in the image and likeness of God … so that means we have been created in the image and likeness of greatness, love, joy, peace and wisdom. We have been created in the image and likeness of unlimited abundance and all that is good. That is who we are! Yet many of us think of ourselves as much less than we really are. We describe ourselves with phrases such as,“I’m so stupid!” “I never get things right!” “No one will every love me.” We affirm and focus on the very worst of ourselves, and don’t open our eyes to see, believe, accept, own and express the greatness within ourselves.
Jesus expressed himself at a very high level. He said, “I am the Light of the world. I am the way, the Truth and the Light. I am the Resurrection. The Father and I are One.” With these words, Jesus was acknowledging his true self; his authentic being.
The truth is that we are all vast, magnificent and brilliant spiritual beings. We have unlimited spiritual potential. But spiritual teacher Michael Beckwith says that, instead of focusing on our spiritual immensity, we get stuck in ourhuman density, where our focus is on lack, limitation, problems, and whatever isn’t going well in our lives. We allow that density to limit us from experiencing our immensity. Beckwith emphasizes the importance of re-focusing on our immensity, on the truth of our spiritual magnificence. We are the temples of the living God! We are the light of the world! We can do all things through God who strengthens us! When we place our focus on the immensity of who we are, and our authentic divine nature, it lifts us to a higher perspective, and we begin to live our lives at a higher level.
Most of us are much more comfortable saying something like, “I’m such as loser,” than we are saying, “I am beautiful,”or “I am magnificent.” So here’s your homework to begin changing that! Each day find an anchor statement such as,“I am love,” or “I am created in the image and likeness of God.” Continue to affirm that statement throughout the day. And before you go to bed, look at yourself in the mirror and say to yourself, “I am love, and I love myself just the way I am.” It may feel silly doing this at first, because our human selves aren’t quite comfortable with accepting our magnificence. But if you continue affirming it while looking at yourself, your soul will begin to recognize and identify itself, and you will start to feel a connection to your higher self. You will ascend beyond your human density to your spiritual immensity. Jesus said that anyone who believes could do all that he did and even greater works than these! That’s how much spiritual potential is in each and every one of us!
Next, we must be true to ourselves. Most of us spend the majority of our lives doing and saying things we really don’t want to in order to please other people. We feel a lot of pressure to conform to others’ standards and expectations, so we deny our authentic selves because we’re afraid we won’t be liked or accepted for who we actually are. We become so focused on what other people think that we inhibit ourselves from doing what actually brings us joy. We take jobs that aren’t right for us, stay in relationships where we couldn’t be honest with ourselves, and act a certain way because we’re worried about what others might think.
Shakespeare said, “To thine own self be true.” It is so important that we honor and reflect our true selves! When we aren’t in alignment with our true, authentic selves, we become disconnected from the flow of Truth and God’s good. Our souls feel stifled and unfulfilled. We end up completely off center, and create a lot of chaos and conflict in our lives that doesn’t serve anyone well.
Are you living authentically? Is there an area of your life where you aren’t being true to yourself? Do you know in your heart that you aren’t honoring what your soul is calling you to be? What are you being called to do, achieve and change? It’s important to listen! We all know, deep in our souls, that we are meant to do, to say, to change, and to create. To improve your life, you must honor what your soul is calling you to do!
And finally, we must be gentle with ourselves. We tend to be so critical of ourselves! We beat ourselves up whenever we make mistakes, or can’t achieve the degree of “perfection” that we seek. While it’s good to aspire for excellence, we can enjoy the fruits of our labor much more if we’re actually gentle and loving with ourselves. We may not do or say everything the perfect way, but if we are acting from our truth, we simply can’t beat ourselves up about it. We need to be okay and supportive of sharing more of ourselves with others, because that’s the truth we have been called here to live. That’s the only way that we can share our gifts, beauty and joy with the world.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” No matter what you may be facing, if you stay true to yourself, and continue to be loving and gentle with yourself, everything in your life will be made beautiful in its time … more beautiful than you can even imagine! Jesus said, “It is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.” God isn’t withholding anything from us; it is God’s desire to give us the absolute fullness of the kingdom! The only thing limiting us from all the love, success and happiness we desire is ourselves when we don’t feel worthy enough to accept it.
When you raise your level of worthiness, you also raise the level of love, joy, fulfillment and goodness you feel in every aspect of your life.
So this week, practice loving yourself. Embrace the truth of who you are. Stay true to yourself. And be gentle and loving to yourself, even when things aren’t going as well as you would like. When you take the time to do so, you will discover just how beautiful you really are.
God bless you all!
PRAYER
Thank you, God, for showing me the truth of who I am. I am created in the image and likeness of God. I am the temple of the living God. I am the light of the world. God and I are one. All that God is, I am … and I love and accept myself just the way I am. Thank you God, for the truth of knowing that I am enough. Thank you, God, for knowing that I am good. I am great. I am amazing … just the way I am. For this truth, and for the truth of knowing that I am one with God and all that God is, I truly give thanks. Thank you, God. Thank you! And so it is. Amen.