Smiling Sundays - #281 The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I Am A Blessing

You aren’t a mistake. You were meant to share your unique, amazing, beautiful, kind and caring self with the world. You were NOT put here to create conflict or chaos, but to stand for something greater—truth and love. So speak your truth and love …less through your words, and more through your actions.

I think it’s difficult to know you’re worthy without having to do great things. In Christianity there’s a common thread that I hear in all the different sects as we’re taught that we aren’t worthy of God’s love but he gives it to us anyways. That we are wretched sinners, but God still will want us in his presence. And I know what they’re trying to say, that the creator of the universe…the one who is so perfect will love us no matter what we do or who we are…but it’s such a backwards way of looking at things. Would you ever say to a child that you aren’t worthy of our love, but we’ll give it to you anyways?

And for me I struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts partly because of this very notion. That I had to beg for forgiveness because I was a wretched human, and that I was unworthy of God’s love. There’s a rite of passage into religions and for Christianity it’s being baptized…and that can mean many things as it’s the way to be able to be saved, to have entrance into heaven, to be forgiven of original sin (the sin that Adam had broken the ONLY commandment God had given of not eating the apple in the garden of Eden)…and we are like Adam, so we need to repent for original sin through baptism and be like the New Adam…which is Jesus…because again, we are flawed humans.

I’m not berating any religion here, I think whatever will help you get closer to God is a beautiful thing…but I was in a prison from some of the dogmas of the many religions I’d come in contact with. I lived in this darkness, this shadow of life. Trying to be better for God, hoping that someday I’d be worthy thru my actions and thru my faith… Yet I never felt worthy because I still held onto the belief that I was unworthy of God’s love…but hey… as everyone else kept telling, he still loved me through my wretchedness anyways.

It wasn’t until I could come to love myself, I could then love God, and I could then love others, and I could then find what was always in front of me… happiness. I’d been thinking I had to do something for it, I was thinking I had to beg for it, I was thinking I had to be forgiven for it…but it was there all along when I decided to love myself…which helped me to love the things around me.

I know I tend to get life confused with living. That if I do one more great thing, then I’m getting closer to that proverbial heaven…but as they say—life is not a destination it’s a journey. And by truly understanding that thought, it helped me to see that it wasn’t in one action…or always trying to beat a previous action…it was about continual movement towards the ultimate goal…love. And that love was in serving others, it was in serving myself more kindly, and it was in serving life by becoming a part of it. I’m a blessing, you’re a blessing, we’re all blessings.

You don’t have to be forgiven, you don’t have to pray for it, you don’t have to wish for it, you don’t have to work for it…you are already there. And when I STOPPED groveling and trying to find forgiveness through actions…I found peace in continually moving towards having a servants heart… every day…no matter my place in life.

Today’s Personal Commitment:
How do you know you’re a blessing? I know it sounds like a rhetorical question, but I want you to do a little self-love right now. Grab a piece of paper and at the top write How I Am A Blessing. And then begin writing as many things as you can, to tell why you’re a blessing to this world. And they don’t have to all be big actions…We think that greatness comes from big actions, but small actions lead to big changes. It might be that you hold the door open for people, it might be that you volunteer to coach your daughter’s softball team, it might be that you plant a tree every year to help the environment out a bit. And if you are having trouble finding reasons, then tell a few people about this activity and ask them if they could help give you a few reasons that you are a blessing. And maybe help them out too if they want to do the activity with you.

I am a blessing