“And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that.” ~ Isaac Asimov
One thing I learned at a very young age in a Catholic grade school: there’s nothing like an angry nun! If Sister ever got angry, watch out. We would be in for some kind of response proportionate to the offense. Sometimes, we got whacked. Sometimes we got lectured. One of the things that used to set the nuns off was when someone was treated poorly or called names. The phrase we would hear, declared quite emphatically, was “God does not make junk!”
We would joke about it and mimic the phrase. But each time we joked, each time we mimicked, the phrase burned itself more and more into our psyches. Yes. God does not make junk. Later, when I would feel down about myself, I would bring that to mind. If God does not make junk and God made me, I must not be junk. That phrase went a long way to help me — as I am sure it helped many of my classmates through the years — feel better about myself.
Many times, we are very harsh in our criticism of others. As harsh as we can be toward others, we can be even worse on ourselves. We judge ourselves and think poorly of ourselves. We can even get to the point of believing that God does not love us and wants nothing to do with us. That is absolutely false. In reality, we don’t love ourselves. Therefore, we don’t think that God would want anything to do with us because we don’t think we’re worthy.
God does want something to do with us. Why? Well, He made us in His immortal image and likeness. He loves us unconditionally. He cares for us immensely. He would do anything to have us know that.
FAITH ACTION: Do all that you can to recognize the worth of others whom you encounter today just as you value yourself.