Written by: Lana Poljak Branisavljević
THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION
Today I’m going to ask you a seemingly simple question but your whole life actually depends on the answer to it. The question is: Do you love yourself, my dear friend? Don’t just quickly answer it.
Stop, think it through….what does it mean to love yourself?
To love yourself doesn’t mean to be stuck up and self–sufficient, that doesn’t mean to think that you are better or smarter than others – firstly, that means to know exactly who I am. To love yourself means to guard your life against evil, not to accept evil thoughts, words and deeds. Man who loves himself doesn’t accept to be a slave to vices, negative habits and forced thoughts…That is man who listens to his conscience and the natural moral law in himself. Man who loves himself guards his dignity and chastity. He constantly develops, he is man of merits and virtues. He is man of spirit.
Only then when man accepts himself and gains a love for himself, he can have love and compassion for others, otherwise, he is an empty bowl and despite wanting he doesn’t have anything to give to another.
Man can love himself and accept himself just as he is only if he has received that love. Man needs Love that first loved him in order to love himself, and that Love is absolute, perfect, unconditional love of the Creator himself. He reminds you today that His love for you never exceeds, it can’t vanish, it can’t be turned off, it doesn’t calculate, it always justifies you, it always protects you…
From the moment of your conception, He knows about you, knows you by your name, He was in every moment of your life and He is beside you.
You are not a coincidence, nor a number, you are wanted and loved from the first day of your life! And that is the only truth! And if your soul bleeds because the words of your parents strike you that they didn’t plan you or wanted you or that they expected a girl and a little boy came or vice versa, now is the time to enter the real truth about yourself… Don’t be afraid! Let the Creator’s love embrace you today, to remove the weight from your shoulders, every insult and wound that burns you and hurts you…
In His arms, you can be the way you are, maybe tired and burdened, may be insecure and anxious… He waits exactly for those kinds of people!
And your soul waits for you, like a little child, to embrace her today and say to her: I love you!
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Born in Zagreb. Married, mother of two children. By profession master of social work, employed at the Retirement Home in Zagreb. As a high school student, in 1998 she came to the Centre for Spiritual Help in Zagreb seeking help in dealing with her own existential fears. At the same time as going to hagiotherapy, she participates in seminars for new evangelization and since then she has been inextricably linked to the activities of the Community Prayer and Word and the Centre for Spiritual Help in Zagreb, where she has been a volunteer since 2000. She is currently working as a hagioassistant.