In reading a book* for class, I recently learned about something common in the African-American tradition: porch sits. In the evenings people would gather around on someone’s porch, and everyone was free to discuss hard topics and complain about their life. The amazing thing about these porch sits was that everyone was welcome.

This past Sunday we discussed the two most important commandments, and how they can be summed up by saying love God, love neighbor, and love self. But I know for me, sometimes it’s hard to love myself, and I’m sure some of you feel that way too. So how can we get better at loving ourselves?

At church this past Sunday we talked about the story of the healing of Naaman. Instead of coming out to meet him when Naaman approaches Prophet Elisha’s home, he sent a messenger to Naaman instructing him to dip in the river Jordan seven times to be healed. Naaman gets upset with this treatment. He expected the prophet to come out and greet him for he was a person of power. Naaman would have missed the opportunity to be healed, if his attendants had not intervened and suggested he dip in the river as instructed by the prophet.

How often do we find ourselves in similar situations? In our limited view, biased approach or simple oversight even, we sometimes get caught in situations and thus miss the blessings that could be ours.