The topic for next week’s Wordfull Wednesday is “Love for Self.” This will probably be a hard topic to write about. It usually is for most women and mothers. We are so busy doing that we forget sometimes to refill our cups before they become empty.

In Matthew 22: 37-40 Jesus tells us that the first great commandment is to love God. “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” We are commanded to love ourselves! How do you show love for yourself? What activities do you engage in to refuel or recharge? How do you make the time to do that?

I saw the following quote on Kate’s Kitchen and thought it was perfect for introducing the topic. It is from Patricia T. Holland, wife of apostle Jeffrey R. Holland. “Anyone who reads a newspaper or magazine is constantly reminded that proper diet, appropriate exercise, and plenty of rest increase our daily capacities as well as our life span. But all too many of us put off even these minimal efforts, thinking our family, our neighbors, and our other many responsibilities come first. Yet in doing so, we put at risk the thing these people need most from us: our healthiest, happiest, heartiest self. . . The issue for me then, is accepting that we are worth the time and effort it takes to achieve the full measure of our creation, and believing that it is not selfish, wrong, or evil. It is, in fact, essential to our spiritual development. My oldest child tried to teach me this principle years ago. I had not been feeling well on a day I had promised to take this then three-year-old son to the zoo. As my aches and pains increased, I finally said in exasperation, ‘Matthew, I don’t know if we should go to the zoo and take care of you or if we should stay home and take care of mother.’ He looked up at me for a moment with his big brown eyes and then stated emphatically, ‘Mama, I think you should take care of you, so you can take care of me.’ He was wise enough even at that age to know where his best interests were ultimately served. Unless we take care of ourselves, it’s virtually impossible to properly take care of others” (“The Many Faces of Eve,” in Jeffrey R. Holland and Patricia T. Holland, On Earth As It Is in Heaven [1989], 66–67).

Please take some time this week to think about what you do or what you would like to start doing to show love for yourself. Write a post about it next Wednesday and share it with us on next Wednesday’s Wordfull Wednesday.