Thought for the Evening

Even before I had heard or read any sermons, prayers, collects or sung any hymns, I was hit with what felt like quite the important central message of the week:

We are not the center of even our own personal universes. If we're doing this Christianity correctly, we must recognize that God is at the center, and when we give into this idea as the organizing principle of our lives, there is a radical reordering of what we think is important. And it's never too late to do this.

That may all "sound" easy, but to actually put it into practice takes effort. And perhaps this is why we were warned that this whole "taking up your cross" business is NOT for those unwilling to face difficulty. And the first difficulty is facing our own ego, and taking a good long hard look in the mirror before we start working on everybody and everything else. Anyone who has gone through a personal transformative experience knows what I'm talking about. And if you don't, take it from me: when you begin to remove the mask that you wear for the world and allow your true face to be the one you put forward... you'll know what I'm talking about. It's frightening at first, and then extremely liberating.

And it is the beginning of clearing the space to put God back in the middle.

And now I lay me down to sleep... to pick up with other thoughts tomorrow!