Cross and Resurrection

How love overcomes death.

People say that you have to love yourself before you can love someone else. And yet, I’ve also found that you truly love yourself only once you love others. That may sound like a vicious circle, like a dog chasing its tail endlessly. But it’s not. That’s because love comes from a deeper place than either your heart or mine.

I say this as a person who struggled to love himself for many years and who now, more often than not, loves his life and loves all sorts of people. The turning point for me came not from loving myself first. Instead, my life changed when I realized that I am the beloved. The bedraggled and the shopworn to be sure, and yet still the beloved. And so are you.

Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

Loving yourself and loving others are not discrete steps that must occur in a strict sequence. You love yourself through loving others. Loving others deepens and widens the love you have for yourself.

This is because love—true love—comes from God. God’s love is always a completely …