Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Lesson from a lioness

My trip to Felidae cat centre left a large impression on me. Viewing such magnificent creatures and their behaviours is really an eye opening experience. While observing the lions feed I noticed an important behaviour.

The alpha female ate first by herself while her cubs lay a few feet away. Later she brought along a piece of meat for them to feed on and then they ate together. I suppose that what I learned from this is that in life we have to take care of ourselves first before we can take care of others.

Similarly we cannot love others until we have first loved ourselves which might sound like the converse of Jesus commandment that we should love others as we love ourselves. Think of it this way though, can you truly show love and compassion to another human being if you look at yourself in the mirror and despise what you see?

In this commandment Jesus challenges us to not be proud and arrogant but it also challenges us to look at our own self image. God has made us all perfect. The fact that some may be blind, others deaf and still others crippled means nothing, that is merely a casing that we are housed in. Our spirit is created with beauty and with an eternal flame of life.

Many of us would have seen the picture of a kitten in front of a mirror with the lion staring back at him. What is your self image saying about you? Can you dare to love yourself today the way God loves you? After all God gave his precious Son for us, how can we not love ourselves the same way too?

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