It's Not about Me!

Friends of Faith:

It’s not about me. Why Me? Or is it about me?

These are interesting questions to ponder, and sometimes difficult ideas to accept because what I want is not always what God wants, or wants for me.

He has a divine plan for each of us, we were created in His order and “God saw that it was good.” Gn 1

I am supposed to do HIS will, not mine.

Christ knew what God wanted. Christ did as he was asked. And Christ knew it wasn’t about Him. And yet even Christ didn’t “want” to suffer. ‘He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.”’ Mt 26:39

I know this is the attitude I am supposed to have, but sometimes even thinking about accepting the challenges of day to day life means I feel like turning and running the other direction.

So, why is doing His will so difficult? Because there is one being left here on earth who wants it to be about anyone other than God, who is still actively trying to make it about me, who is actively and purposely trying to convince me that IT IS about me-- and that is the devil. The devil wants me to believe that it IS about me, about my happiness, about how I can get the best for me, about how I can maintain control or take charge, and about “what’s in it for me.”

Last week I had one of those weeks and several of those moments – when I asked: “Why me?” “What’s in it for me?” and I thru myself a little “pity party.” And like many who complain I even found a friend or two who sympathized with me and said, “you don’t deserve that” and “Go for it you deserve better.”

But in actuality I don’t “deserve” anything. “For the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Ps 23 Yet the devil is always out here tempting me that somehow I need more that I "deserve" more and that I shouldn't have to sacrifice or suffer in any way.

And in some ways I suppose my friends are right—‘I don’t “deserve”bad,’ but I don’t necessarily deserve the very best either. Rather I am called to accept the gifts I have been given, to make lemonade out of lemons, to find the silver lining and to react not with selfishness but rather to use whatever circumstance to show my faith and give back to others—even when doing so means my own wants have to be set aside: because God will make it “good!”

So how do I make it not about me? How can I do my best to react with a more Christ like attitude in whatever situation I find myself? 

The best example is Mary –today on this the celebration of the Annunciation of the Lord – 9 months
before the birth of Jesus. And, Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Lk 1: 26-38 Mary was not without fear or without questions, but Mary said, “it’s not about me.” And God made it very good!

So, it’s not about me. Or is it?

In a way it is about me, it’s about my choice, about my obedience to God and my discipline to living the commandments, about taking the gifts God gives me –even if at the time I don’t see it as a gift.

Every choice I have is a choice to choose Him. Every choice I make affects others directly or indirectly. Even the choices that seem to make myself and another “happy,”the seemingly personal choices affect others I don’t know, they have a ripple effect.

Think about movies like “A Wonderful Life” where the main character gets to see what the world would have been like without him. One decision today, good or bad, can affect a multitude of future happenings.

Heavenly Father, You have given us the world—everything in this world is your gift to me. Help me to use it wisely. You have given us free choice – but you ask us to be Christ for each other. Help me to do your will. Make my day not about me, but about those around me. Help me to accept the difficulties in my life because they may be placed there to help another. Help me to make choices with the attitude that it’s “not about me.” Amen.

Try on God’s truth: not “why me?” but “why not me!”

 

Make your choice be about someone else. Make your choice be to accept God’s will by walking in Christ’s path and being led by the Holy Spirit,

Blessings,

Charlotte

 

It's All About Me????

Women of Faith:

Is it all about me? Or are you coming to realize that just because our society says ME, ME, ME, doesn’t mean that God says so?

It seems as if none of us wants to accept the blame, few truly forgive, and even less forget, and seeing someone serve another person without “pay” or reward is a rarity. As spouses, serving and forgiving, which are the core principals of love and marriage, are at the “root” of many of our breakdowns in relationships. We live with the consequences of pride, anger, and jealousy; greedy and unwilling to “see” God’s love and understanding in our lives.

We want to be taken care of, pampered, and made to feel as if we are right all the time. We spend money for instant gratification, we expect to always be right and put ourselves in charge so that we can have “power” for our own purposes. And if a spouse doesn’t justify the other, they go in search of “love” from other “feel good” /addictive/ areas, or another person thru adulterous affairs; and no one seems to think any of this is “abnormal” or wrong, because society has made it “right” by its frequency.

We have religions that support gay marriage, abortion, and birth control. Religions who believe in “a god”, who don’t believe that Jesus has lived, and/or who’s teachings circumvent the full truth so that they will feel better about the way they are living.

The California courts have thrown out the ban on gay marriage, voted on by the people, saying that it is “unconstitutional” and yet it was the people who put it in the constitution by their vote. Literally the judge is saying—IT’S ABOUT ME, “I don’t like what was voted in, so I’ll just make a new law I like by banning the people’s vote/law.”

God doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t need us to be right. He is RIGHT! He put us here with His love; He put us here to serve each other. He put us here so that we could be with Him in heaven.

We have a shining example of “pure love,” “pure acceptance,” and “pure service,” in the person He gave us to bear His son, Mary.

“Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Luke 1: 38 She accepted God’s request for her body and spirit wholeheartedly. “Done according to HIS word!” She said nothing about her own desires, nothing about I or me, only about God’s desires.

So do we worship Mary? No, but we do pray "thru" her, honor her with the greatest reverence, and ask her to lift our prayers to her Son, Jesus and to God. As Martin Luther said in 1531, “She is the highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ. She is nobility, wisdom and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough. Still honor and praise must be given to her in such a way as to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures.”

At the foot of the cross, with some of his last spoken words, Jesus said to his disciple, “Mother, behold your Son. Son, behold your mother.” John 19: 26-27 Jesus gave his mother, Queen of the universe, to us ALL, so that she would be OUR HEAVENLY mother, as she was/is God’s GIFT of a PERFECT mother for Jesus. And just as we requested our own earthly mothers intercede with our fathers when we were youngsters, so does Jesus tell us to take our prayers to His mother Mary, so that they will reach a greater glory with God, our Father.

Mary is our example that none of our actions should “be about me.” But instead, they must be “about God.” We are called to love and serve as Jesus (and Mary) did. We are also called to forgive and give as they did.

Dear God: Praise be the gifts of Your Son, Jesus and His heavenly Mother, Mary. Thank you for the Beauty and Blessings bestowed on us thru her intercessions for us. Help Me to be more like Mary, ready to serve, giving of my life, willing to forgive, and pure of heart. Help me NOT to be “about me” but “about living my life for you.” Amen.

Help me to be “about you” this week—

Blessings,
Charlotte