Relate:: Relation to Self

As we dive deeper into our discussion of relationships, this week's message encourages us to consider our relationship with ourselves. Many of follow destructive patterns when it comes to the way we treat ourselves. Sometimes we relate to ourselves much like a relative we don't see often:  we are constantly seeing ourselves at a fixed point in our lives. Are you focused on a time in your life when you were younger? More reckless? More distant from God? Or are you relating to yourself much like the friend who keeps a record: are you making a list of past mistakes, keeping score, and reminding yourself of how much you've screwed up? Or maybe you're relating to yourself in a another way: you treat yourself like a high intensity coach, holding yourself to the highest, impossible standards. These are just a few examples of the ways we sometimes fall short of a healthy relationship with one's self. A discussion of relationships is incomplete without considering how we can ultimately reflect God's love for us through a healthy relationship with ourselves. If one or more of these is descriptive of the way you are currently operating, I invite you to consider an alternative.