Deeply religious and faithful people--regardless of the actual religion they practice--focus all of their time and energy into knowing God and developing a better relationship with Him. This is unsurpassably important but there's something else that must be done before expanding your knowledge of God, or rather something that serves as a better gateway to knowing God. This something is knowing yourself. You're probably sitting there thinking, "What? I know myself perfectly. I know my hobbies, likes, dislikes, I know everything I need to know; I know myself better than anyone else knows me." But you're wrong. You don't know yourself completely, no one does. Except for God, of course.

So this talk of "knowing yourself," it's more than just knowing the facts about your life with others. It's about knowing your faults, weaknesses, joys, and much more. It's about knowing who you are when nobody else is around you. It's about knowing your true self, not the false self you pretend to be in front of everyone else.

You may be wondering right about now what "knowing yourself" has anything to do with knowing God. Well, consider this: how do you study an artist, author, or singer? You examine their works of course; you analyze their paintings, read their books, and listen to their songs. So, God is the sculptor, and you are the sculpture--figuratively, of course, you're not made out of stone. What better way to understand Him than deeply look into His very own creation (you!)? God made you. He knows you. He gave you this life and created you in His image and likeness. So, to an extent, learning about your own self teaches more than you can imagine about God.

And right about now, you're probably wondering how exactly you can "know yourself." I can't completely answer that for you. It's different for everyone. You might learn about yourself through prayer. Your sister might learn about herself by observing how she acts around various people. Someone might even learn about themselves through writing or reading. Often when we write fiction, we absentmindedly create characters in our image, similar to how God creates each and every one of us. Also, when we read, we notice and are attracted to characters that have similar qualities and traits that we have (example: I really like reading about Hermione in Harry Potter because I love school and I'm always studying). So whatever way you find you learn about yourself best, go with it. Because knowing yourself is the key that unlocks the world of knowing God.

Whether you're Christian, Hindu, Muslim, or Jewish, knowing yourself should be of utmost importance to you in your spiritual journey and relationship with God. And never forget that "You are fearfully and wonderfully made." (Psalms 139:14)