TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF: SELF-CARE IS NOT SELFISH

If you are anything like me, you take care of everyone and everything all the time. You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, and you forget you. But when you take care of yourself it is not selfish. We have all heard the analogy about “putting on your own oxygen first” when you fly, and it is true. If you can’t breathe, you can’t take care of anyone else. Well today is my birthday, and I am going to celebrate me! I have said the following phrase to my children since the time they were babies, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14. 

The entire verse is actually, “I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” So part of praising God is the acknowledgment that I am a wonderful part of God’s creation. It is time I learned to say that phrase to myself. I am a child of the Most-High God, and God is celebrating me!

THE RAGDOLL

I remember as a small girl sitting in the dentist office. I can still see the layout of this dentist office in my mind, hear the ringing of the phone, and smells of his office. On this particular day, my mother dropped me off while she ran an errand. While I was sitting there, I was working on a small rag doll that I was hand sewing for myself. Our family didn’t have a lot of money, and with seven children, there was never enough money for dolls and toys. I had decided to make my own doll. 

An elderly woman was asking me questions about what I was working on. I was an introvert (even back then). The conversation went something like this: 

Lady: What are you sewing?

Me: A doll.

Lady: Who is it for?

Me: Me

Lady: Why don’t you give it to a poor child?

Me: Because I want it.

I eventually got called back into the dentist, but when I came out my mother and THE Lady were talking. After we left the dentist office, my mother told me that the lady had said that I was spoiled and selfish. I cried then, and typing these words brought tears to my eyes. You see, I believed those words. And then I vowed to do everything so nobody ever viewed me as spoiled and selfish again.

And I proceeded to live the rest of my life thinking that if I did something for myself it was selfish. If I take care of myself, it is selfish. I am spoiled for wanting nice things. I am uncaring and unkind. And for the last 45+ years, I have believed those lies spoken to me and over me. 

The lady in the dentist office could have chosen to speak positive words over me. She could have said that I was resourceful or hard-working. Maybe she could have suggested that when I finished mine I make another one to give. She could have said so many life-giving words. 

LEARNING TO CELEBRATE ME ON MY BIRTHDAY

Today on my fifty-fourth birthday, I am believing the truths of God’s word. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am a friend of Jesus. (And my mind knows that Jesus would have put that self-righteous lady in her place because Jesus takes care of my little girl heart). I will not be condemned by God. I am chosen, holy and blameless before God.

What happened to the rag doll? I never finished it. It was a constant reminder of those words that hurt, and those words that I accepted as truth. So today I will celebrate me. I will celebrate with my family, but I will also do something just for me. William Wilberforce (English politician of the 1700’s who worked to end the slave trade) once said, “Flowers are God’s thoughts of beauty, taking the form to gladden mortal gaze;—bright gems of earth, in which, perchance, we see what Eden was—what Paradise may be!”

How Will You Take Care of Yourself?

So today, to take care of myself, I will buy myself a bouquet of flowers, and join in with God in a celebration of me! And because taking care of yourself is not selfish, I invite you to celebrate with me today. What will you do to celebrate you? To see what I learned in year 55, Read Here!

Remember that getting gifts to take care of yourself and pamper you, is not selfish.