My Precious Self

April 30, 2023 Message: My Precious Self Speaker: Rev. Lezli Goodwin New Vision Center for Spiritual Living It was inscribed above the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, “Know thyself.” This advice has been echoed by countless sages, gurus and philosophers over millennia. If we want to understand the world, we must know who we are to the very depths of our being. I’ve never heard anyone push back against this wisdom – no one has ever said to me, “I will NOT learn about myself!” And yet, we do push back in the quiet of our own minds. We tend to resist looking into what we have contributed to a challenging situation or exploring our motivations and agendas. This makes sense to me, as we humans often choose to avoid the uncomfortable. The more interesting thing to me is that we also avoid exploring and acknowledging our Divine nature. Maybe it’s because we grew up in a culture that values humility and punishes self-aggrandizement. Perhaps it’s just a really big idea to get our heads around. But while we all nod and smile when someone says, “We are all an expression of Divine perfection,” that concept rarely makes it all the way into our sense of self. And yet, knowing who we truly are actively and palpably changes our lives. It causes us to be more courageous, more wise and more loving – both to others and to ourselves. Ernest Holmes wrote, “We reach God in others by reaching out from God within the self. Always the God in others will respond to the God in us, but never beyond the level of our inward spiritual awareness.” This Sunday, let’s come to know ourselves more completely as we explore ”My Precious Self.” Find out more at www.lezligoodwin.com Venmo: @LezliGoodwin