Today is the day of love.
My dear women of wonder, today my heart is full of love and compassion for all of you. On this day of love, I send you all the love that I can muster up because you are so worth loving.
The Wonder Woman Challenge has always been about stepping off of the merry-go-round of life a few minutes each day in order to love yourself … to fill your empty cup with love SO THAT you can joyfully give to those around you. We must learn and practice giving from a full cup.
Today is the day of love.
Regardless of what anyone else does for you, what are YOU going to do for YOU? Don’t miss this opportunity to express to yourself just how much you do care and love yourself. Your spirit will leap with joy!
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” ~ I Corinthians 13:4-7
I encourage you to not only apply this passage of love to those around you, but also to yourself in a balanced and healthy manner.
Today is the day of love.
“What women need is to learn how to nurture themselves. We need to shower as much loving kindness on ourselves as we habitually shower on loved ones, and even not-so-loved ones. We need to be loved for our fully formed selves, not for our dependent, appeasing selves. And the only way we can have fully formed selves is by granting ourselves the same tenderness and fierce protectiveness we’d otherwise reserve for a beloved child.” ~ Alice D. Domar, PhD “Self-Nurture”
I love you!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Shileen
Taking Valentine’s Day into your own hands is a great thing to do! Why wait and hope that someone will recognize you on Valentine’s Day when it isn’t necessary?
Valentine’s Day can be a fun holiday, it can be a bummer of a holiday. As women, we always hope that our loved ones will recognize their love for us on this day. The waiting can be unnerving … will he/they do something or won’t they? Will someone think of me?
Let me ask you… who really needs that?? I sure don’t!
Many years ago I decided to take Valentine’s Day into my own hands making it whatever I wanted it to be. I thought about what would bring me great joy on this day. How can I express love to those close to me that would also fill my own love tank?
I started by giving a tea party to my family, which consists of two boys and a hubby. You are probably wondering how I pulled that off. Although at the time they would not admit it, they all loved it! It was food! Tell me what boy or man who does not like food!! =) Plus they knew it was important to me and we always enjoyed conversation around family time (we still do). Our tea parties over the years have always been very lovely and meaningful.
It has been a few years since I have thrown a Valentine Tea party. I will always recognize my guys on this day and they typically do me as well, but I seriously count their recognition as a bonus.
Listen, it is just as important to love on ourselves as it is to love on others. When we love on ourselves it frees others to love on us. While you are recognizing your loved ones on Valentine’s Day, what can you do to recognize yourself? Plan a special tea for yourself, a bubble bath, buy yourself some flowers, take some time to work on a hobby, etc. Think of a way to treat yourself special, something that will bring you joy.
Here’s a fun idea! While I was putting together a gift for a friend, I put one together for myself as well. I love it! It is simple. I always say it is the simple things of life that bring me the most joy!
I made a cute set of Valentine’s Day coasters, bought a new mug (I am a sucker for a cute mug!), made up some of “My Famous Hot Chocolate Mix”, and added some of my favorite tea. It is so very cute! Just looking it at fills me with joy!
The coaster idea came from one of my favorite websites Cupcakes and Crinoline in an article called Sew Happy 30 Minute Coasters.
Taking Valentine’s Day into your own hands is a great thing to do. In the end everyone feels blessed with a full love tank.
Do you have any Valentine’s Day ideas to share?
You have more value than you can imagine!
We live in a world where we are bombarded with negative messages. Consciously or unconsciously these negative messages absorb into our consciousness and begin to toy with our self-images and can lead us down a path of feeling unvalued.
Add to that the pains and hurts we experience within our relationships, which by the way, begin the very moment we enter this world. Whether you come from a solid family with minor dysfunction or an unhealthy family where dysfunction reigns, pains and hurts cannot be avoided because we are all human … we live in a fallen world.
And, as I am sure you are well aware, our friendships can add insult to injury. It is no wonder so many live their lives with low self-esteem, anxiety, and even depression.
Is that it? Do we just go with the flow and allow all this negativity to invade our personal environments causing us to believe we have no value?
The answer is a big NO!
You have more value than you can imagine! It’s time to ditch the lies and embrace the truth about you.
Think of someone you highly respect, someone you hold in a very high esteem. What do you think and how does it make you feel when this person notices you and calls you by name? It’s a sweet sound, isn’t it?
More than that, how does it make you feel when this person remembers your name? Makes you feel good, doesn’t it? A kind of “Wow! He remembers me”. Makes you feel important and, yes, even valued.
“But now, God’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: ‘Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine.’” Isaiah 43:1 The Message
Do you realize the King of kings, our heavenly Father, calls out our names? As a child of God, He says that we are His!
What a beautiful thing. Take the above scripture verse and put your own name in it like:
“But now, God’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, Shileen, the One who got you started, Shileen: ‘Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine.’” Isaiah 43:1 The Message
I love that! The Creator of the universe knows my name, calls it out and tells me that I am his. It fills my heart with love and joy and peace.
It’s time we stop believing all the lies that we have taken in over the years. Refuse them. When you catch yourself going there, just say, “NO! That is no longer true of me!” and recite Isaiah 43:1. Then allow His love, joy, and peace to fill your soul.
Believe me! You have much more value than you can imagine!
It truly is amazing that Somebody of such high esteem … who is pure high esteem loves and values you and I so much. It is His love that carries us through the rough points in our life. And it is in and through His love that we find our true value in this life.
God bless you as you journey to discover your truest value.
1 Corinthians 13 Christmas Style
©By Sharon Jaynes
If I decorate my house perfectly with lovely plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls, but do not show love to my family – I’m just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family – I’m just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family – it profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn’t envy another home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of your way.
Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love never fails. Video games will break; pearl necklaces will be lost; golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure.
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