The smell of dinner cooking met me at the door after a long day. How sweet of my husband to take care of our meal since he had gotten home first.
When it was time to eat I was more than ready. Leaning over the pot of squash to select a piece of baked chicken I heard him ask, “Did you get me a plate?”
Opps. I was so self-absorbed that I’d grabbed a plate from the cupboard for me and never thought about getting one for him. How rude, especially since he was the dear one who had prepared the food I was grabbing.
“Sorry, I guess it’s all about me.”
I laughed but the sad thing was, at that moment I was only thinking about me. I know he wasn’t upset and was picking on me, but the words I said, “I guess it’s all about me” continued to ring through my ears the rest of the evening.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the “it’s all about me” mindset.
I don’t believe we set out to be a self-absorbed person, it just comes with the sin nature in which we were all born. Like a juggler, we stand in the middle with our families, jobs, friends, activities, hobbies, and even churches orbiting around us for our benefit. With each touch of our hand, we have a tendency to make sure we are taken care of in each instance.
So how do we remove ourselves from the center and put others first? We learn from the Master, Jesus, for He is not only IN the center of all things, He IS the center of all things. Nothing exists without Him. John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God. All things were made through Him (Jesus), and without Him (Jesus) was not any thing made that was made,” (John 1:1-3).
Want to be like Jesus and think of others before yourself?
See Jesus for Who He is, see people as He sees people, and understand the love He has for each one of us. If we can love people as He loves people, then it won’t be all about us.
As we go through our day, picking up the fragments of our lives and throwing them up in the air, we need to see them through the eyes of Jesus. We need to touch them with His love and it will no longer be about us.
There is a secret to being a good juggler.
And don’t worry, when Jesus is in the center with us, we don’t have to worry about dropping anything. He’s got it, and, . . . it’s all about Him.
Scripture taken from English Standard Version of the Holy Bible.
Pictures courtesy of www.pixabay.com.
