In the category of being kind to yourself are two major categories. They are Forgiveness and Gratitude. Most people have grown up with these major themes close to their hearts. But many missed God's point in trying to inspire and motivate us toward forgiving and thankfulness.
They thought they were expected to please God, that is make God more positive toward them, if they expressed thankfulness to God for the gifts of their lives. Also forgiveness was regarded as a move we must make to soften God's attitude toward us. In other words they were religious activities.
Today we know something extremely important. God talked and prophesied on these themes for our personal every day well-being. Forgiving heals our hearts. that is why God pushes us in that direction. Forgiving relieves burdens, pressures, resentments that sicken our souls and weigh us down. Not that forgiving is easy. It often takes enormous effort. Sometimes it helps to change the word. Instead of "forgive" we can say "let it go" or "give it to God." The advantage of these other words is that they illustrate ther removal of enormous hurts from our hearts--not letting a guilty operson off.
Gratitude has taken a similar turn. It's synonym is thankfulness. Both words are every day attitudes for Jesus' children. But again we have mostly supposed that thankfulness was an attitude that showed The Lord our spiritual maturity or appropriatenss. It does, but God's teaching us to be grateful people is for our well-being every day of the week. People who spend a few minutes every hour to realize and "give thanks" for all their hourly blessings become happier and healthier.
So first of all we give thanks for the presence of Jesus and his Love in our hearts, then we go on to number all the other beauties and benefits of every day of life.
They thought they were expected to please God, that is make God more positive toward them, if they expressed thankfulness to God for the gifts of their lives. Also forgiveness was regarded as a move we must make to soften God's attitude toward us. In other words they were religious activities.
Today we know something extremely important. God talked and prophesied on these themes for our personal every day well-being. Forgiving heals our hearts. that is why God pushes us in that direction. Forgiving relieves burdens, pressures, resentments that sicken our souls and weigh us down. Not that forgiving is easy. It often takes enormous effort. Sometimes it helps to change the word. Instead of "forgive" we can say "let it go" or "give it to God." The advantage of these other words is that they illustrate ther removal of enormous hurts from our hearts--not letting a guilty operson off.
Gratitude has taken a similar turn. It's synonym is thankfulness. Both words are every day attitudes for Jesus' children. But again we have mostly supposed that thankfulness was an attitude that showed The Lord our spiritual maturity or appropriatenss. It does, but God's teaching us to be grateful people is for our well-being every day of the week. People who spend a few minutes every hour to realize and "give thanks" for all their hourly blessings become happier and healthier.
So first of all we give thanks for the presence of Jesus and his Love in our hearts, then we go on to number all the other beauties and benefits of every day of life.
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