Oh how I just LOVE SATURDAYS! I must tell you this whole living in the moment thing is helping me to understand RELAXATION in a whole new way! My Saturday started out with the perfect message…and it was so fitting…I wanted to share it with you!
A few posts pack I shared with you the book I am reading, The Ragamuffin Gospel, which my sister introduced me to. I loved the book so much that I found out Brennan Manning also wrote a day by day devotional, Reflections for Ragamuffins, and I had to buy it IMMEDIATELY! It has been another fantastic way to get a dose of grace each morning!
Saturday, January 15, 2010: Giving Compassion – Starting with Ourselves
Brennan writes:
In returning to ourselves, in contemplating the compassion of Jesus and realizing that “THIS MEANS ME,” we come under the mercy and qualify for the name tag “blessed.” In urging us to compassionate caring for others, Jesus invites us to have compassion for ourselves. The measure of our compassion for others lies in proportion to our capacity for self-acceptance and self-affirmation. When the compassion of Christ is interiorized and appropriated to self, the breakthrough into the way of compassionate caring for ourselves brings healing to others. Solidarity with human suffering frees the one who receives and liberates the one who gives through the conscious awareness “I am the other.”
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14.
I know this is something that I definitely struggle with and is such a wonderful reminder of the LOVE of our GOD! Thanks be to GOD! This whole ‘starting with ourselves’ fit right in line with my spa appointment at noon J I also thoroughly enjoyed getting coffee and catching up with a dear friend and to top of the evening dinner out with some great girls to watch my team pull of a W in the play-offs!
I hope you ALL had a wonderful Saturday, too! And I’d love to hear where you saw God’s grace in your life today!