18 March 2012

Sometimes it's just not about me

Every so often a thought pops into my head - a compilation of things I'd been thinking, conversations I've had, books I've been reading, spiritual lessons I've learned, Bible texts I've read - and I realize, "hmmm, this is a word of God for me." It's a bit like me talking to myself combined with the sense that this is what God, as He has been revealed in the Bible and in his relationship with his people, would want me to hear on the basis of what I'm experiencing at a certain moment.

What have I been hearing lately? "Sometimes it just ain't about you."

Sometimes I don't want to do something or I find something hard or I don't feel like it or whatever. In my family, we'd tell each other to "suck it up," which are often good words to hear - but it's a different thought than hearing that sometimes it's not about me. Sometimes, it doesn't matter how I feel - God deserves to be praised even if I'm not in the mood. Sometimes it doesn't matter if I don't want to - I still have commitments and people to help. And I do deep down want to honour others. And what if I don't feel like I can? So what? It isn't about me - it's not about what I can do, or what I want to, or how I feel - it's about God who can do all things, including in and through me. If I spend too much energy focusing on me and how I feel about it, am I not potentially standing in the way of God?

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