So who or what are you looking at with such incredulity? That person staring at you from the mirror? That angry, hurting, disillusioned, cynical person? Or are you looking at your smiling, self-satisfied reflection telling you how well you have done, that life has been really good to you, that your dreams are really coming true, assuring you that you are indeed on the right track?
                   Wrong person! Again I say, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! a thousand times wrong!  That person, whether hurting or happy, is the actor on the stage of life, wearing the clothes of the Fallen World, pursuing the will-o-the-wisp goals of never-enough, beginning to suspect (otherwise why would you be reading this thus far?) that life as you know it is really a kick in the face. Relax. Sit back and prepare to be pleasantly surprized. Those fairy tales your mom or dad or grandpa told you long, long ago were true after all.
                    When I was about six or seven years old I went through a phase in which I lived in fairy-tale land. I believed all those stories of kings and princesses and wizards, of spells and magic potions, of heartbreak and healing and the ever-present anticipation of everything turning out well and everybody (excepting the wicked wizard or witch of course) living happily ever after. During that time my favorite story spilled over into my everyday life and I firmly believed that I did not belong to my mom and dad. I  was actually the son of a very kind and rich king. In the story, a wicked witch, hating the king because he had ordered the land purged of all witchcraft, retaliated against him by casting a spell upon his children. In order to protect them from further harm until such time as he could find an antidote to the spell he secretly sent his children away to places safe from the witch's power. One of his children had been given into the care of a poor woodcutter who lived with his wife deep in a great forest.
                   I identified with that particular baby and imagined I had been deposited with my very ordinary working-class parents. For weeks I lived that fantazy, expecting someone to come knocking at the door and claim me back to my true, rich, wonderful life, to the real life that had always been mine, had always been waiting for me until the time was right, the wicked witch's power having been destroyed and my father the Great King send his messenger to bring me back home. I loved my regular mom and dad but I just knew that they, somehow, also knew the truth about me and, when the time came, would willingly let me go back to my real family and receive my real inheritance.
                  Many years later I discovered just how true that particular fairy-tale was. It was founded on Absolute Truth. I really did not belong to my earthly parents. They were, like the woodcutter and his wife, stewards of the Great King's son, protecting him and rearing him for a while until the King's Messenger came searching for him. We are, each one of us, in our earthly role, away from home and under a horrid spell . That is the basic truth. As the king's child was born in his kingdom, in his royal palace, so we were born originally, before time began, in God's kingdom, in His eternal heart. As the king's child is of royal blood like his father, so we are of Royal Blood. The child is not his father but "of him", "in his image". So we are not God but we, each of us, are, originally, "of God", "in His image".
                     The analogy takes on startling parallels: Since we came into this world we have found ourselves in a different identity to that of our original being. We have been born in a fallen state into a Fallen World - a world full of dangers and darkness, much like a great forest, and we have been given new identities and told, "Life in this world is hard. You will have to struggle and fight for survival but if you are determined you can become successful. You can make something of yourself, become 'somebody'. Create your own kingdom whatever way you can. Others have done so, why not you?". What we see, as we look in the mirror, is our fallen identity, in competition with all of the world's multitude of fallen identities. Children of the poor woodcutter, struggling to survive.
                     But, my friend, I have news for you. Some time ago, long before you came into this Fallen World in your fallen identity, a Messenger came looking for you, and he uttered these awesome words with you in mind,  "The Kingdom of God is in you, in your heart . . .", and He was not looking at you as you see yourself in that mirror or as you know yourself in your everyday life, worried, downtrodden, weary and cynical, abused and disillusioned or thinking that at last you have it made whilst knowing full well how easily the competition may oust you from your king-of-the-hill position. He was looking at you as God has always seen you, from before time began, as the king in his palace always remembered his child from before he was given his poor, hard-working identity in the forest. And He was saying, "It's time to come home to your True Life. I have destroyed the wicked witch's power. There is no need for you to stay away from Me any more."
            The Great King has already come to claim His own. You are His.You are, at present, away from your true home. When He says, "Love yourself right where you are", He is saying that, behind that deceived fallen identity which, in your ignorance, you believe is all you are, you have another identity, another life, like the king's son in the fairytale. So trust Him. Look inward to who He says you are and get excited. He is about to reveal to you how you can, now that the Evil One's spell has been destroyed, claim your royal and rightful inheritance. God is saying to you, "You are family. It's time for you to come home".
 

  BASIC LAWS No.4: Love Yourself Right Where You Are.