Making self care a priority is something that I've always had a difficult time with. When I finally decide that I need to take some time for self care, I do great! I know the things that renew my mind and give my spirit rest. I can easily tell you many things I can do to take care of myself. Most of them are easy things that don't require money or scheduling something in advance.
The struggle I have is making self care a practice of my everyday life, rather than a response I have when I start to crash and shut down. Crashing has been my pattern in the past. I push harder and harder, and stretch myself too thin until I'm crying on my back porch from being exhausted and overwhelmed. I start feeling like I'm just overstretched and I have too many commitments...all commitments I've usually volunteered for.
Yesterday I started pondering if the importance of practicing self care. Does it go beyond just making me feel better and function more efficiently? I think so. Self care is an integral part of taking care of myself so that I can better serve my purpose here on earth; to glorify God. After all, I am part of God's creation and I was made in God's image.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, or you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Am I treating my body like it is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Am I glorifying God by the way I'm treating my mental health? I actually have come to feel that self care and mental health awareness isn't just something to make our lives easier, but rather something we are commanded to do.
Here is where I have to be careful. It would be easy for me to justify self care as something that I'm commanded to do by God. I have to pause though to ask what true self care looks like. It is stopping to play with my dogs because that releases some stress and makes me feel good? Maybe. But did I ever stop and consider that burying myself in the word of God might be a healthy form of self care too? While playing with my dogs might offer me temporary relief, ultimately etching God's promises and assurances to me in my heart should help give me comfort and relief when I need it. Particularly for me, I often get overwhelmed when I work my way to feeling like I'm running the show and life depends on what I do or don't accomplish. And does it really? Am I the center of the universe? Do things depend, and revolve, around me? No.
My purpose on earth is to serve God. I live to be His tool to help further His kingdom. The minute I wander from that viewpoint things tend to go astray. Usually this isn't drastic and I don't see the slow shift, but it happens. Self care can be many things. In the end, for me, it ultimately boils down to keeping my priorities and perspective straight. The only way I can do that is to focus on God. Care for myself is ultimately about taking myself out of the equation and caring about the relationship I have with my God.
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
May I continually remember that keeping my eyes focused on God is the strongest form of self care I can practice.
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