Looking to Heaven

 I found this meme in a journal entry from many years ago.  I included a single sentence that said I needed to remember this and keep working on not caring so much what others think.  

I contemplated on the progress I have made.  It's definitely something I think gets easier as we age, but there is one thing that helps me more than anything else. 

When the disparaging looks of others, harsh or cruel words, or the whispering doubts in my own head try to make me feel less, I look to Heaven.  I pray at that very moment.  I shut off my phone or the tv.  I recall and read scriptural truth.  I read journal entries that remind me who I am.  That's on the good days. 

On the bad days I replay and recall every other time that I've been hurt, left out, or overlooked.  I assign motives to the people involved.  I pull into cycles of negativity. In short I do everything but the helpful. I'm incredibly human. 

I'm having more good days than bad now.  It's a process and habit I'm learning that over time is becoming stronger.  It helps me love myself and then more easily others.  Especially my family. With the help of my Savior who shows me the way.  

After all He knows an awful lot about being rejected and scorned.

President Russell M Nelson shared,

"Feelings of worth come when a woman follows the example of the Master. Her sense of infinite worth comes from her own Christlike yearning to reach out with love, as He does.

When her husband, children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews return from a day marred by the world’s rude realities, a loving woman can say, “Come unto me. I will give you rest.” Wherever she is can become a sanctified place, safe from the storms of life. Refuge is there because of her ability to nurture and to love unconditionally."

I love this! Wherever I am can be a sanctified place offering safety from the storms of life.  My workplace, my home, my classroom, the grocery store, the beach, my car- wherever I am.  I can look to Him, feel his love and reflect it.  I can remember who I am.