Hi everyone,
Welcome and thank you for tuning in.
Well in a moment I want to give you the opportunity to practice self-compassion towards yourself.
And of course as you do this,
Know that you are in the presence of a God who is the source of compassion.
Who is the source of kindness.
Who seeks to empower you to fill you with life and love.
To captivate your heart so that it is positioned to live out of its best self.
Before we begin our practice of self-compassion I want to position it by sharing an illustration.
Well I have two young kids and boy kids have the unique ability to push your buttons.
And so a few months back I noticed that I was falling into a rut.
What was happening was my three year old was pushing my buttons and I was reacting in a way that I didn't like.
I was not reacting in compassion or patience.
I was reacting with anger and with frustration that did not come down low to meet him in his needs but that wanted to avoid the emotions that he was expressing.
And so of course what then happened was I would blow up or get angry or walk away and I would realize,
You know,
I don't want to do this.
This isn't the parent that I want to be.
And then I started feeling more and more uncomfortable with myself and getting frustrated because I wasn't meeting my own standards.
And so the next day would come and my son would do something again and I would react and be even more frustrated with him because somehow in my mind I was convincing myself that he was the source of my inability to be who I wanted to be as a parent.
In some weird way I was getting frustrated at him for putting me in a position to get angry.
And of course that made me more angry and then more angry at myself.
And so self criticism and self judgment continued to flow in this area and it wasn't until I realized I needed to practice self kindness,
Self compassion,
That I was able to free myself from this downward spiral.
And so it began for me by allowing myself to realize that I was feeling like a failure.
I was feeling inadequate in this area.
I was stressed.
I was frustrated.
And so because of that it's easy to self criticize.
And I realized that what I needed to do was to normalize,
To realize that I am human.
That although in those moments I was feeling like I am the only parent on planet earth who was struggling in their reactions towards their three year old,
That is not the case.
It can become very isolating when we feel like we are the only ones who are reacting or responding in a certain way.
Who are the only ones who are struggling in our particular areas.
And once I did that I was able to be mindful.
I was able to be aware of the fact that,
Wow,
It's not all about this one situation.
My son is three.
My son does not have a fully developed brain.
My son is young and his ability to communicate.
My son has a lot of stuff going on because it's bedtime.
And I need to realize that,
Wow,
My son is doing this because he wants attention from his dad.
He sees me as a safe place.
He sees me as someone who can be the one who holds him together when he's falling apart.
And that allowed me to feel a sense of hope and courage and a sense of joy.
And so what I invite you to do now is to reflect on the last week,
Maybe the last 10 minutes.
What has been pinging for you as I've described my own situation?
And how might you sit with God now and work to return back to a place of self-compassion?
Grace and peace to you in this reflection.
Amen.
You you you you you Jesus in his sermon on the mount pronounced a list of blessings over crowds of people who are marginalized and outcast who did not have wealth or authority or power or influence in society.
They were often viewed as weak in the eyes of society as insignificant and one of these blessings is this Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy Another word for mercy it can be translated compassion Blessed are the compassionate for they will receive compassion in the Hebrew the word compassion is womb-like tenderness Isn't that a captivating image?
Womb like tenderness it speaks to this idea of individuals who have the ability to create places of nourishment safety and freedom nourishment safety and freedom They are individuals who actively care for others they do not Just front it or talk about caring or be Moved with lofty speech and then don't enact anything,
But they actually do it They are the ones who care deeply for others who are often unseen and Jesus's vision God's vision for a world is that These individuals who lead the charge with compassion Would not be forgotten because let's be honest oftentimes the people who are the most compassionate Are the ones who are the least cared for?
Are the ones who are the least cared for?
So God's vision for a world is that everyone would be inspired by these individuals and their way of life and their way of compassion and become compassion to them become safe places of nourishment and freedom and So my prayer my hope for all of us listening now is That we would rest into the God who is compassion who is kindness who moves us to a place of compassion and kindness within ourselves and That we will choose to embody that compassion by creating safe places for nourishment and freedom for those around us May we be the blessing to the compassionate as we are compassionate to them Grace and peace to you
