Self-Respect|

It's Christmas Eve. People are bustling around town, doing their last minute shopping and preparing for a full and filling holiday season.

Something that I would like to touch on today is the subject of:

Self-respect|
A few years ago I received a letter from someone whom I love dearly. It was given to me on the brink of a great adventure in my life. The note said something to the extent of:

"Remember that you need to extend the same grace to yourself as you do to others."

One simple phrase that has mercilessly haunted me for years. What is graciousness? It is simple, and quite easy for me to see the best in others. Maybe it's my idealistic viewpoint of the world, wanting to stop and smell the roses, see the sunsets and feel the breeze on my cheeks. I believe that there is good in all of us. We all have a gift to give to the world, a way to contribute, to touch a life. Maybe some of it stems from being surrounded by people everyday in my line of work who are misunderstood. Look at someone with a disability. Before they speak,they are misjudged. People of a "regular" mental state often, without trying to generalize, assume that because people with disabilities do not have the same mental capacities, they do not walk to same intellectual path that we do.

I think what I'm trying to say, is that we need to change our perspectives on what is accepted success. There are days, that I can speak the most eloquent way, placing the appropriate words in the sentences that I speak. But in the same breath, I may be impatient, and afraid. And then I spend time with the people whom I work with and I see their untouched and unbiased view of the world.They may not know the exact words to say in the moment, but their awareness is gracious. Graciousness and kindness is possessing the ability to look outside of the gloominess of your situation and acknowledging that there is someone who needs to be loved. Which, I guess, leads back to self-respect. If you respect your self, acknowledge your strengths, and your weaknesses, you will be able to approach people with no judgment and love them.

Extending grace to others is realizing that the best that you can give to others, is also what you possess within you. The God of Grace can fill you so that nothing but the overflow of the goodness within your heart can touch others.

Have a Merry Christmas Eve!