It Time To Stop Curling Inward
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark 10:43-45 NIV
40 Things to Give Up for a Better Life
#8 Entitlement
One negative of being human is the tendency to think I am the only one who matters, to even forget others exist. My difficulties are all consuming. They are big and bold and flashing neon yellow across the ticker-tape screen in my mind. Do you feel that way about your problems?
It reminds me of that moment in childhood when we realize our teacher does not live at the school. We see them in the grocery store and are shocked that they can exist outside the classroom.
I have moments like that with other people too. I see them in a different car or with grown children and think, “wait, something’s changed. You’re not the way I remember you.” Or I talk with a friend who’s parent has died and think, “what? that’s my issue, not yours. You can’t being grieving. That emotion is mine.”
In those moments I realize how self-absorbed I have become, how I’ve turned inward, curled in on myself until I can’t see those around me have heartaches and hard-times too.
It’s time to open up, turn my eyes outward, become a part of the human race. It’s time to stop thinking I am the human race.
Do you, like me, have a hard time recognizing the needs of those around you?
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