One of my friends became an auntie at the weekend. Her sister named her daughter Ellyson, Elly for short. My first thought?

Ooooh, another El! 😉

We’d already heard of another El entering the world (and that time, she was a fully fledged Eleanor, just like me) so I was delighted!

It got me thinking though … deep down, we’re all just a little bit narcissistic aren’t we? Or maybe that’s just me?!? 😉

What’s that really about? And how does that work when Jesus talked about dying to self and the need to lose our life in order to save it?

I mean, if everyone who was friends with Jesus literally died for him, that would leave no one to love everyone else on God’s behalf so it can’t be that exactly.

What if “dying to self” was about every day, asking God to help us show up as the people he created us to be?

What if he never meant it as a negative thing (because if I’m being totally honest, I’ve always thought ‘carrying my cross’ and ‘dying to self’ sounded like an awful lot of hard work!)

What if he actually wanted it to be something that made day to day life better?

You being you, the “you on a good day you”, God’s best version of you, is an act of love and worship.

It’s like taking your time over a gourmet meal, enjoying every bite, and being sure to thank the chef.

It’s like walking around the Louvre, drinking in the colours and textures of the art, thankful to whoever invited you.

It’s like belly laughing with your children, free from distractions and stress and screens.

And sure, it should come naturally to us, seeing as it’s just us being us, but this is life and sometimes it’s not all that easy. It’s so, so much easier if you don’t try and do it alone.

What if “dying to self” was about saying “no more” to trying to do it alone?

That I could get on board with 🙂

How about you?