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

 

With Humility

Women of Faith:

Someone (aka God) has been telling me to be humble. I say this because anytime the same message “shouts” out to me during the week I know that it is not just a coincidence, but a God incidence. HE is trying to get through to me about something.

Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with these words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Mt 5:3

He could just as easily have said: blessed are the humble, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

I may think I deserve acknowledgment for what I have done, but is what I have done really as important as I think it is? And really, the only person that I should be trying to impress is God himself. And I’m pretty sure I am not as perfect as his image—the image that I have been created to be.

Praise God. Often heard, but not often enough done.

Praise (insert your name). While it may not be often heard, it is something many of us often receive and even more often many of us expect to receive.

But praise in itself should be humbling. What I achieve is not from my making, nor do I make good things happen. Everything I do, everything I achieve comes from God. Because with God, all things are possible.

And likewise a reward should not to be expected, or asked for. I shouldn’t “do good” so that I will receive something in return. I should instead “do good” because God created me to be capable of doing good and our God given purpose is to love, through service of one another, as He has served (loved) us.

And humility makes me teachable, changeable, and ready to be formed by God’s messages. Only in humility will I be willing and able to accept and change as He wants me to change. If I act as if I know it all, then why would anyone, including God, bother to teach me the valuable lessons that living life here on earth is all about?

So let me be like—
Mary. With deep humility she received from the Angel Gabriel the news that she was about to be the Mother of God’s Son. She accepted the challenge (and in those days, death by stoning was the fate of an unwed mother). She didn’t shout from the mountain top that Christ was coming. She didn’t broadcast her obvious holiness. And she certainly didn’t expect to receive any reward for the work of being a mother and even more so the suffering she would have to undergo when her son was hung to death on the cross.

She simply accepted. She humbly said “why me, I am not worthy.” She allowed herself to be formed by God.

The Three Wise Men. Thank God they were humble. They silently adored. But their faith, their wisdom was sharp enough to detect the sham delight and murderous intentions of the wily Herod. And so they paid their respects, left their gifts, and modestly departed for their homeland, sorrowfully aware of the terrible price justice had to pay for peace.

Jesus.  As always, God’s son is our greatest example: born in a stable. Humble enough to lay with the animals in a smelly manager. And yet he was the greatest human, ever born. He was the greatest of all kings. He deserved more than anything we could ever imagine or begin to deserve.

Heavenly Father, To You I Give all Praise and all Glory. In your name I pray this: A Prayer for Humility:
O Jesus! Meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved, deliver me Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled , Deliver me Jesus
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me Jesus
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me Jesus
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me Jesus
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me Jesus
From the desire of being approved, deliver me Jesus
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me Jesus
From the fear of being despised, deliver me Jesus
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me Jesus
From the fear of being calumniated (falsely accused), deliver me Jesus
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me Jesus
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me Jesus
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me Jesus
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me Jesus
That others may be loved more than I. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease.  Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should. Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. Amen.

 With all humility, seek to find what God is calling you to do this week for someone else,

And may your reward be with God,

Charlotte