It’s February 29th!!! That’s kind of neat. Today’s date only comes by once every 4 years. It seems as though we should make today special, but how can we do that?
Maybe the office can go out together for lunch.
Perhaps, especially if you never do this, you can go out and buy your colleagues a box of doughnuts and/or some coffee.
You could possibly write some encouragement cards to the people in your life that make a positive difference to you and to the world.
Another idea might be to have a special dinner with the person/people you love.
Speaking of love, I’d like to take your attention back to our ‘Missional Year at a Glance’ poster and focus on February’s theme one last time. This month we are focusing on ‘love’ and ‘self-care’. Yes, the two are very much related. It’s hard to love someone else if we feel tired, burned out, angry and frustrated within ourselves. Self-care goes a long way towards alleviating those things.
So what does self-care look like? It could be anything (that’s not harmful of course) that brings you joy. Praying/meditating are crucial. Having a great meal. Listening to or playing beautiful music. Hanging out with friends. Exercising. Napping. Flying a kite. Watching an awesome movie or TV show. Taking a holiday/trip. The list goes on, and it’s vital that we take self-care seriously.
So on this day that only comes around once every 4 years, I’d like to challenge you to do something special that celebrates the day as well as brings you joy.
I promise it will help all of us keep striving to be ‘The Hand of God in the Heart of the City.’
Peace,
Dion Oxford, Director of Mission Integration
Prayer for Self Love
Today, Creator of the Universe, we ask that You help us to accept ourselves just the way we are, without judgment. Help us to accept our mind the way it is, with all our emotions, our hopes and dreams, our personality, our unique way of being. Help us to accept our body just the way it is, with all its beauty and perfection. Let our self-love be so strong that we never again reject ourselves.
Let the power of our self-love be strong enough to break all the lies we were programmed to believe – all the lies that tell us we are not good enough, or strong enough, or intelligent enough, that we cannot make it. With the power of our self-love, let us enjoy what we see every time we look in the mirror.
Let us love ourselves without judgment. Strengthen our will to forgive ourselves in this moment. Clean our minds of emotional poison and self-judgments so we can live in complete peace and love. Today is a new beginning. Help us to start our life over beginning today. Help us to enjoy our life, to enjoy our relationships, to explore life, to take risks, to be alive, and to no longer live in fear of love.
Amen
Prayer adapted from here