On Being Gentle with Yourself

Learn from Me, for I Am Gentle

Jesus describes himself as gentle and lowly in heart. This is one of the most striking self-descriptions in the Gospels. The one who made the world describes himself as gentle.

And he says: learn from me. Not just learn from what I teach. Learn from what I am like.

The Interior Voice

Pay attention to the voice you use toward yourself when you fail, when you are struggling, when you are not managing well. Is it the voice of someone who is gentle and lowly? Or is it something much harder?

The practice is not to excuse everything or to stop caring about growth. It is to bring the tone of your interior voice closer to the tone of the one you are learning from. Firm when needed. But gentle. Always gentle.