By the Rev. Jane Smith at Channing Memorial Church, Ellicott City, Md.
“We all need practices of self-care if we are to fully engage with ourselves and the world around us. We are living in difficult times. Without time to center and be, our minds and our beings can be overrun by the needs, anxieties, and rush of the day. If we find ourselves in a time of hardship, this centering becomes all the more necessary – a space for healing when we may simply feel lost. As our reading elaborated, “I take care of myself first, because I am deserving of exquisite care.”1 We are each deserving of exquisite care. Before we can take care of anything or anyone else, we need to care for ourselves.”