When my daughter, Gillian, was a little girl, I remember one of the cutest things she said. One day, while I was rocking her in our favorite chair, she came to an amazing discovery. It was on a Friday, and she was just four years old.
Every Friday, we spent together, just she and I, since her brothers were in school, and she was in preschool the other days of the week, while I went to work.
What she said, as just a little child, has stuck with me all these years, and she’s now almost 21 years old next month, and still just as smart and spunky as she was then.
As we were rocking and singing some of our favorite songs, she started singing a fun little song that she was making up as she went along, about how much she loved everyone in her family. She listed me her mom, then her Dad, and then each of her three older brothers in order, according to age. The song went kind of like this, “I love mommy, I love Daddy, I love Garrett, I love Gavin, I love Grant….” And then she stopped. And with the most astonished look on her little face, she exclaimed, “I love Gillian, I love me, I love myself!” as she continued on happily with her little song. It was at that moment that she realized that she needed to add her own little name to the list, and that she also loved herself right along with everyone else! No more than! No less than!
May we all make that discover! Then perhaps the two greatest commandments could be carried out that instructs us to “Love God and then Love our neighbor as ourselves!” (Mark 12:30-31).
Article Written by: Debbie Harper, Ph.D.
