The Past is Gone -- Leave it there and Move Forward

The first thing that I will preface this with is:  Abram became Abraham.  Yes that is a biblical preface and it is one that we all should take heed to in life.

God has a plan for your life.  People hear that from their parents, grandparents, strangers, and others in life.  We all know at some point that we are unlike any other person.  The struggle to fit in is real, and whether we admit it or not, people want to be liked, and loved.  Love is the strongest force on earth.  

Love steps before bullets, give organs, covers faults, encourages others, does acts of kindness and mercy, speaks truly, makes us laugh and cry, hugs us, heals us, makes us dance in the dark, wakens us out of sleep, causes us to drive long distances to be there and so forth.

One of the messages from this past week was self-love.  I am not talking about the narcissistic kind of love.  What I refer to is healthy love.  Having a measured opinion of one's self.  Knowing that you are worth something and have value.  Understanding that others may not value who you really are but that doesn't really matter.  You have to understand that your self-worth is more important to you, and make decisions based on your self-value.  

Does this mean that you look down upon others? No.  Does it mean your are better than others? No.  What it means is that you value yourself to the degree that you will not allow negative influences to penetrate your life and heart.  It means as the bible says, "you guard your heart for in it are the issues of life."  That means you choose wisely.  Life is about choices.  Choices innately involve consequences.  

In insurance, they measure risk assessments.  We need to ask ourselves the value of others in our circles to our life and vice versa.  If the risk assessment is too great for harm, then you need to love yourself enough to get out of harm's way.  There is value in this wisdom because other people obviously don't place value on you if they want to cause pain, difficulty, harm, or whatever to you!

I started this blog listing Abram and Abraham.  Abram was the name as he left a certain place, but then God changed his name to Abraham.  Pause.  I'm not asking you to change your name, but from today forth if you value yourself begin anew.  So what if you haven't been loving yourself.  Today you can become a new person.  Old things can pass away and all things can become new.  

Start the process of loving yourself enough to remove the dead skin in your life and move into a new time for yourself.