Justice for AllSample

[IMAGE CONTENT] There's a passage in The Secret Garden where the main character, Mary, is wondering if another person will like her. She's asked by a new friend, "How does thy like thyself?" It's a hard question for a lot of people. Do you like yourself? While it's normal to get frustrated with yourself or wish something was different, we are usually willing to put our own needs or wants above the needs or wants of others. It's a mindset that's been ingrained in us since we were little kids. How do you like yourself? Some of us have such a hard time with this idea of loving ourselves. God sees us and knows how very loved we are. But when we struggle with this, we tend to over-consume or focus on our outward desires in order to distract ourselves from truly loving ourselves. In the end, that does change the way we treat others because if we love ourselves the way God loves us, we can love others in that way, too. What if we saw God's call to love as an affirmation rather than a punishment? What would it look like to love others first?