Love Your Neighbour As Yourself
Mark 12:29-31 —
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
I’m a secondary school Drama teacher, however I also teach up to GCSE Maths. Because I only have an A Level rather than a degree, I often get the lowest ability classes in Maths, which I love. Partly because I’ve been teaching the foundation course for a while now and it’s second nature to me, and partly because with smaller class sizes I really get to know the kids. I see them basically every day, they learn my quirks and I learn theirs. At least once a term I hear the same thing in different words.: “I’m never going to get this. I’m too dumb.”
It’s heartbreaking to hear, especially from a young person with whom you spend so much time and see work so hard. I always have the same reply:
“If your friend was working hard, and finding it difficult, what would you say to them? Would you call them names? Tell them to give up? Or would you be kind? Give them a break? Encourage them to try again?”
Love your neighbour as yourself, is radical, life altering and what a lot of our modern ideals of morals are built upon, follower of Jesus or not. But it also relies on us loving ourselves. I am often critical of myself, I hold myself to very high standards, standards higher than I would hold anyone else to. I am not saying that is a bad thing, we need to stretch and reach to grow. But when I don’t meet those standards, I need to remind myself of what I tell my students:
It’s okay not to get it right. Take a deep breath, count to 10, and when you’re ready, try again.
Heavenly Father, help me to love myself as the work of art you made. I pray that you build in my habits your love for others, and eyes to see all as your children as you do. Amen.
Esther Rai