Rooted In Love

It is so easy to get caught up in aspects of the world that simply do not matter. It’s so easy to worry about image, who likes you and who doesn’t, if what you’re wearing is cool enough, or if your job or school are good enough. It’s easy to wonder if your passion is worth pursuing. It’s easy to talk down to yourself. It’s easy to compare yourself to people you don’t even know. And I have begun to ask myself why? Why are these things so easy? Why is it so easy to find fault with me and so hard to find love? When did this happen to us? When did we stop loving who we are and start loving the idea of who they want us to be?

I’ve noticed, if I find myself thinking something positive about myself, I immediately think “wow that’s so great, look at you loving yourself.” And if I have a not-so-nice thought about myself, I don’t even give it a second notice. So why is this? And if there were a straight and perfect answer to this notion, we’d all love ourselves a little more by now. The hard thing is there’s not. But there are lots of potential elements as to the why and I’ve found that they often stem from comparison. We are so quick to compare ourselves to others. I take one look at a photo or a video and immediately think wow “she’s so much cooler, prettier, smarter, successful, etc.” and I have to stop and ask myself why. Why am I comparing? Like genuinely, what is the point in that? What good is to come from that?

And to dive even deeper, I started thinking about the reason we compare ourselves to others. And normally it comes from the need to be liked and feel accepted. Like a mental check that we are doing okay. a stamp of approval from the world. And when I got to that understanding I realized I was having this desire to compare, because my base was off balance. I wasn’t sturdy in myself and I was forgetting who I was rooted in. and so I began to stumble.

When we are rooted in love, we become love. Your root is what holds everything you are made of together. And if your root is rotten because you’ve stopped loving it, how can you expect to grow? And I’ve realized that our root tends to rot when we put ourselves down. When we stop loving ourselves, our petals wither. When we stop loving ourselves, we start to crumble.

In a weird way, sometimes I look at loving yourself like a garden. We all live in this beautiful garden together. We’ve been planted here as different seeds with different purposes. All to grow at different speeds, heights, and lengths. No plant is identical to the other. They aren’t supposed to be. They don’t serve an identical purpose. That’s not the point. They each grow differently. And that’s a good thing. That’s what gives a garden so much beauty.

You are made to be exactly who you are. You are worthy because you are you. You are made in the precious and perfectly crafted image of God. There was no mistake in your creation. You are here for a unique purpose, that only you can fulfill. When you walk as a Christian, you are rooted in the Lord. And through that, you are rooted in love. Don’t let your roots rot over the desire to be someone else. If we all focus on loving who we are and who we are becoming, we can all grow together instead of apart. You are so worthy, capable, strong, and loved. So here’s to growing together friends, and bringing the sweet garden of the world to life.

 

All the love, Annie