When God wants to make something clear to me, He repeats Himself frequently through a variety of unrelated sources. The past couple of weeks, He’s been communicating the concept of self-care to me.
My birthday was in September, and as a gift, my husband gave me a certificate for a massage to my favorite spa. I was thrilled, and couldn’t wait to schedule my hour and twenty minutes of heaven on earth. It’s now November, and I’ve yet to schedule an appointment.
There’ve been a couple of times over the last month when I’ve been too weary to sing during my voice lessons. My vocal coach stressed the importance of self-care. He made this comment: Many Christians confuse self-care with selfishness. He went on to explain that self-care is necessary. If we don’t take care of and love ourselves, how can we take care of and love our neighbors? He stressed to me the importance of: making choices that may be difficult, but are ultimately best for me; getting plenty of rest; taking time alone to process current difficult circumstances.
God knows me well, and knew that I’d need this idea of self-care re-enforced. Last Thursday night I had the privilege of meeting the legendary Roscoe Robinson, former member of The Blind Boys of Alabama. Throughout the evening, he shared a few tid-bits of his life with me, and each time, he’d follow his comments with…You gotta take care of yourself; if you don’t, nobody else will.
As if hearing the idea weren’t enough, God placed the importance of self-care in my hands for me to read. I picked up a magazine from the floor, and it was open to an article titled, “Do People Step All Over You?” The article stressed the importance of setting limits in order to maintain a state of well-being. I found one quote to be particularly timely for me: Putting your foot down more often lowers stress and improves your confidence and well-being. (Health, Nov 2012, p. 112-115)
Right now, taking care of myself means setting boundaries and saying No, as well as allowing myself time to process major life changes. It means giving myself grace.
It also means I need to allow myself to relax every once in a while. I think I’ll go schedule that massage!
