January 13, 2020
The Worth Within Us
What are the two great commandments? Jesus Christ said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind … And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”1
We know it’s important to love God and to love our neighbor, but another key component of this scripture is to love “thyself.” We sometimes forget this truth, and we might experience feelings of frustration and a lack of self-worth because of it.
Our lives are filled with demands and voices that say, “You’re not good enough,” but loving ourselves can help us recognize the truth. When we are having a hard time seeing our infinite worth, it’s important to remember our value, take care of our basic needs, and be patient when we make mistakes. When we do so, we can restore our confidence.
Our divine potential
Fulfilling our divine potential can help us grow in our confidence.
Learning our value is the most important thing we can do to remember our self-worth. We are all children of Heavenly Parents with a divine heritage. By understanding where we came from, we can feel better about ourselves — especially as we serve our fellow brothers and sisters.
In the October 2017 General Conference, Sister Joy D. Jones said, “Truly knowing that you are a [child] of God will affect every aspect of your life and guide you in the service you render each day.”2 Her words teach us that our lives can change when we remember who we are. We can come to this realization as we pray, study the scriptures, and serve those around us.
When we seek to fulfill our divine potential, we can grow in our self-confidence because our actions can allow Heavenly Father to show us the good within ourselves.
Being balanced in our lives can help us have the energy to accomplish what we need to do.
Meeting our basic needs
Once we understand our value, we understand how important it is to take care of ourselves. Even though it’s important to serve others, if we aren’t careful, we can start to run out of physical, emotional, and spiritual resources. When this happens, we can become frustrated because we can’t do as much as we’d like to.
On the contrary, when we do take care of our basic needs, we can receive greater confidence in ourselves because we will have more energy to accomplish our daily activities. In order to meet those needs, we can use what’s called a wellness wheel.3
If we ever feel overwhelmed or upset, it’s usually because something in our life is out of balance. A wellness wheel is used to create a satisfying, healthy, and well-balanced life. When we’re feeling stressed, we can take the time to evaluate how we’re doing at taking care of ourselves and adjust areas where necessary.
Accepting our best
Part of loving ourselves is being patient and focusing on what we can control. When our schedules get busy, it’s helpful to pick two or three things on our to-do list at a time. If we are able to accomplish anything beyond that, those extra things we get done can be an added bonus.
We can rely on the Lord to help us accept our best efforts.
Our best will be different each day. Some days we may be able to wake up early to do our homework, complete all our tasks at work, clean the entire house, and still have time to help our neighbor down the street. There will also be days when our best is getting out of bed that morning. No matter what circumstances come our way, we can rely on the Lord to help us accept our best efforts as He accepts ours.
We are enough
Life is filled with demands and voices that tell us we’re not good enough, but loving ourselves can help us dismiss those lies. We all have infinite worth, and we can recognize the worth within us as we seek to do good in our lives. By taking care of our basic needs, our confidence can grow in our abilities, and no matter what mistakes we make, we can be patient with ourselves.
Though we may each fall short at times, we can cherish who we are and allow Heavenly Father to show us the good within ourselves.
How have you discovered the worth within yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Comments on "The Worth Within Us"
By God’s grace, I will do it.
With the help of God and by keeping his commandments, I will do it.
I learned about having good determination to do what you are supposed to do.
I learned about mindset. As an individual, we need to have faith in all this that we are doing and pray every day. We also need to work hard.
I know I can do it with God’s help and my zeal to learn using my resources effectively.
I realized that if I become patient and start trusting in the Lord and myself, then I can achieve my goals.
How have you discovered the worth within yourself?
By being patient and loving ourselves!
When we seek to fulfill our divine potential, we can grow in our self-confidence because our actions can allow Heavenly Father to show us the good within ourselves.
What a nice picture of my purpose on earth – to love the Lord my God and my neighbors. Loving God and myself will make me develop myself and in turn develop others since I cannot give what I don’t have. Thanks a lot for this inspiring information.
What inspiring information about my worth! Knowing that I am a child of GOD makes a whole lot of difference and meaning in my life and the lives of my family. What a good way to start this semester!
I know and I believe the Plan of Salvation, and I see the worth of an individual. Through the help of my teachers in my seminary and institute class and the guidance of my leaders at Church, I see the value of keeping a journal every day where I always see myself, my accomplishments, and some tasks that need improvement. As a result, my goal is clear in trying to be as balanced as possible. I am now in my higher education by following the pattern of making a to-do list every day.
As even Christ taught us to love our God, with all our heart, soul, and mind, He there in that same paragraph reminds us of not forgetting to love ourselves. For loving ourselves we can only control if we apply the principle of loving God and our neighbors. If not, we can’t find ourselves in the services of others.
Angela is a good disciple leader!!! Nice comments!!!!
This article is powerful and inspiring. I have increased in confidence after reading it.
I know I am a child of heavenly parents endowed with strengths and abilities. I have learned to schedule my activities in a daily to-do list and pray for God’s approval toward achieving my goals. I know and have the feeling I will succeed through His grace and guidance.
What a powerful testimony, Angela! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Please review our comment policy.