I'm selfish.
And that's a problem, because if there's something I can't stand it's selfish people. I want to grab selfish people by the shirt and shake them. I want to to shine a spotlight on all the incredible opportunities they're missing because they can't see past their own needs. Or desires. Or petty preferences. I want to re-introduce them to their children who are dying for their attention. I want to point-out the crushed state of their spouse's heart. I long to bring attention to the sickening and ironic fact that, in being selfish, they're making themselves miserable.
But like most things we hate the most, selfishness in others is maddening to me because daily I see signs of selfishness in myself.
The Christian Church is quickly approaching Lent - a forty-day season of preparing to celebrate the resurrection and triumph of Christ - in which each of us is invited to consider our need for a Savior.
Lent reveals our selfishness. Lent calls us to honest self-examination. It invites us to enter into a season of self-denial, not for self-denial's sake, but for the purpose of becoming whole. Lent calls us to first look inward and then act outward so that we may become the people we were created to be: less consumed with ourselves and more like God; less selfish and more giving.
I'm beginning to think (again) through the pieces of me that need to die in order to make space for the always-giving reign of a Good and Loving God.
I'm looking at my stuff, my time, my heart and my life and I'm wondering what it might look like to share.
