Wednesday morning... So much to do, so little time to do it in!

So I've been up early all week. However, the day that I have the most to do, this is the day I choose to sleep it. That was a bad choice. Oh well, such is life.
On Monday night at Post Grad Campus Life, we had an awesome discussion about shame. How powerful the emotion of shame is in our lives. Think of things that you absolutely hate about yourself. How deep do those hates go? I think often times, they go to the depths of making us ashamed of ourselves. To feel ashamed of ourselves is such an awful emotion. Mainly because we can't get away from ourselves. If we face up to the truth, there's something about us that isn't perfect. That doesn't match up to others. Or, there are things in our past that we can't change that we've done. This I know. The more I try to avoid the truth, the deeper I will go into emotional hurt. And oftentimes, continue unhealthy behaviors.Yet if I face the truth, I'm facing my shame. There's no more avoiding it. Which is less painful, since neither is good? Well, it depends on whether I want to continue the negative behaviors. I either become addicted to my pain medications or I pull the roots out and do away with my shame.
How do I do this? Well, shame is the ultimate self-focus. So to move past it, is to put my focus on loving God and loving others. If I can do this, I start seeing myself with value because I am seeing myself as others see me and as God sees me. Normally, others don't see me as negatively as I see myself. And I know God doesn't view me as negatively as I see myself.
I'm thinking of the Prodigal Son parable. As the young man is walking home after taking his inheritance from his father and blowing all of it, all that his father had worked for to present to his children when he died, I can't imagine the shame he was feeling. Then to stand before his father and have his father look him in his face. When we're ashamed of ourselves, it's hard to look someone in the face. Particularly when we have hurt someone we love greatly. I absolutely believe that's why God came to us in the person of Jesus. We weren't going to go to Him in our shame. So He comes to us in our shame offering us His love back. Amazing. Don't let your shame keep pushing you away from God and His love for you. His love overcomes our shame.