I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change"
These lyrics have been stuck in my head for weeks now! Because of them, I have been reflecting on my life, wondering what I need to change. How can I make my life better? I raise 4 boys and they mean the absolute world to me. I teach them, I raise them and help them grow up to be future men of the world, and I want them to learn respect, and love, and righteousness. I am changing them and helping them develop. But what about me?
As I am writing this, my boys are watching The Lion King in the other room, (They are obsessed with this movie and have seen it about 100 times at least. In the past month. And no, I am not crying about Mufasa right now.) I think of Simba, of how he ran away and made a change, even if it was an "Hakuna Matata" change. He had no worries, but he knew that something was missing in his life, and that he couldn't run away from it forever. He was visited by Rafiki, and he was able to have his past brought back to memory, and realize that he couldn't run from it. He had to make a change and realize that it was only him that could do it. He looked inside and found something to hold onto, something that could help him change. "You have forgotten who you are, Remember who you are, you are my son."-Mufasa
Aren't we all like Simba sometimes? We don't want to face our problems, our fears and past. It is too hard to change, but that change has to come from within. Think of the reason you want to change. Who benefits from our change, by bettering the world?
Have you looked in the mirror and just not been happy with what you see? *Insert hand raise from me*. For a while, it was every day. I hated looking in the mirror and seeing who I saw. Why? Why do we do that to ourselves? KC and I were talking a while ago, and we talked about how hard we are on ourselves. We would never think about saying things like that to other people, so why do we do it to ourselves? After a while, I decided I needed to make a change. I hated that I hated looking at myself. I started reading my scriptures, saying my prayers more frequently, and praying that I could see myself as God sees me. I told Him that I wanted to change, and I couldn't do it without Him. Overtime, I noticed a difference. I was exercising, eating better, studying scriptures, praying, teaching my kids. I am by no means bragging, but I had to change myself! I now look in the mirror and see a daughter of God. I don't look for the flaws, even when I know that they are there. I look for the good. And you know what? I see it! (It also reminds me that I need to clean my mirror because those hairspray marks are just getting out of hand). I can understand that God loves me.
So who do we change for? Who do we want to be better for? Is it for others, or for ourselves? We are told to love ourselves, and I believe that is the first step to change. Changing for yourself, making yourself better, and really getting to know yourself will help you love yourself truly and want to change for the better. Once we are able to love ourselves, we are better able to love others. We are able to make the small changes around us for good. And pretty soon, those small changes are big changes. We provide a ripple effect. Maybe starting out by having better patience with your kids. You have patience, and soon they catch on and have patience. I believe kids are the biggest copy cats in the world, and when they see you doing something, they copy it.
My son Josh loves to copy me. Randomly throughout the day he will just start copying everything I say. Talk about pressure! But when I revert that to saying things like "Josh has a cute laugh, Josh has the biggest smile, Josh tells funny jokes, etc.." Think of how different that would be if he started copying me when I was losing my patience! He is learning love, and compliments. I can slowly guide him to where he needs to be, so that he will learn to love himself and not have to make a change!
Christ wants us to love ourselves, but if we don't, He wants us to remember that we have the ability to. Remember that you are His son/daughter, and He loves you so much. He loves us completely, flaws and all.
Take a look at yourself. Is there something that you need to change to make your life better? To make you better?
Change is hard, and it takes time. We can't give up on ourselves. Find one small thing to change and work on it! If you mess up, don't be hard on yourself. Start over and keep working at it. Be your best self.
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