{"id":1280,"date":"2022-01-03T08:54:37","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T13:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1280"},"modified":"2022-01-03T08:54:37","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T13:54:37","slug":"farewell-to-the-big-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/03\/farewell-to-the-big-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to the Big Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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According to Greek mythology, Narcissus was a spectacularly handsome young man.

Every female in his zip code yearned for his affection. 

He could have cared less.  In the words of author Eugene Peterson, \u201cNarcissus had no time for them.  He was all the company he needed.  He could not waste time on anyone.  He required his full attention.\u201d

The beautiful nymph Echo fell hard for Narcissus, but even she got the cold shoulder.  Brokenhearted, she pleaded for divine redress.  The goddess Nemesis came up with the perfect punishment.  \u201cMay he who loves not others love himself only.\u201d 

A few days later Narcissus, stooping to get a drink of water, caught sight of his own reflection in the pool.  Talk about love at first sight.  He couldn\u2019t bear to stop admiring such perfection.  This proved to be problematic, since getting a drink would ripple the surface of the water and spoil the view.  Unable to eat, drink, or avert his gaze, Narcissus gradually faded away, leaving behind nothing but a delicate spring flower that still bears his name. 

It\u2019s not overly dramatic to say that American culture has been on an increasingly narcissistic journey for a long time. 

In 1954, when the Gallup Organization asked high school seniors if they considered themselves \u201cvery important,\u201d 12% said yes.  In 1989, when Gallup asked that year\u2019s seniors the same question, an astonishing 80% answered affirmatively.  New York Times<\/em> columnist David Brooks cites this as evidence of America\u2019s embrace of the culture of The Big Me.  We\u2019re not talking about healthy self-regard, as in, \u201cSince all people have inherent value and dignity, I will treat myself and others with enduring respect.\u201d  Rather, \u201cI am one in a million \u2013 a truly special person.  I\u2019m the center of my own universe.\u201d 

In her bestselling book Eat, Pray, Love<\/em>, Elizabeth Gilbert makes this virtually an article of religious faith.  God shows up in \u201cmy own voice from within myself\u2026 God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly as you are.\u201d 

In other words, I\u2019m not just special.  I\u2019m divine.  Like Narcissus, I need to spend all of my time appreciating me<\/em>. 

Therefore I resonate with commercials that tell me to focus on my personal retirement account, my wardrobe, my figure, the whiteness of my teeth, the vacation that I deserve because of the pandemic, and my Buick SUV \u2013 or as the ad puts it, my very own S(You)V.  It\u2019s all about me.

The spirit of the times has influenced the Christian community as well.  I\u2019m told that I need to focus on my<\/em> spiritual gifts, my<\/em> prayer life, and my<\/em> calling, and to hold out for a church that will meet my<\/em> spiritual needs.

Such matters do have some importance.  But they\u2019re not central<\/em>.  The kingdom always comes down to what Jesus is doing at any given moment, not what I happen to be doing. 

How can we ever cultivate self-forgetfulness in a culture that is intoxicated by celebrities, selfies, and celebrities taking selfies?  How can we embrace humility in a world that applauds the self-love of Narcissus?

The deepest and wisest answer is to serve others<\/em> as a way of life. 

It\u2019s no accident that Jesus said, concerning himself: \u201cFor even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many\u201d (Mark 10:45). 

Service is the ultimate grandiosity-buster.  Nothing grows humility like being quietly available to meet the needs of other people.  Especially those who struggle to care for themselves.

Parenting is a kind of service that deepens our humility.  Our children desperately need us.  But they don\u2019t always say thank-you.  And we don\u2019t always know how to love them, especially as they grow older.

Caring for aging parents also humbles us.  Sociologists tell us that we are living in the first period in human history in which the average woman will spend more hours giving primary care to her mother than her mother gave to her when she was a little girl.  Searching for the right combination of grace, tenderness, patience, and firmness with older family members is a significant strategy to choke our pride.

The primary reason that Jesus calls us to a life of service is not just to help others.  We<\/u><\/em> are the ones who are chiefly transformed when we serve.

I once heard someone say, \u201cThe best preparation for a mission-centered life is to do at least one thing every day that you really don\u2019t feel like doing.\u201d

The magical reality is that the more we make that choice, the more we become the kind of people who want<\/em> to do what is difficult but good. 

And better still? 

We\u2019ll find ourselves less and less interested in that old habit that never got us anywhere in the first place \u2013 staring in wonderment at our own reflection. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Greek mythology, Narcissus was a spectacularly handsome young man. Every female in his zip code yearned for his affection.  He could have cared less.  In the words of author Eugene Peterson, \u201cNarcissus had no time for them.  He was all the company he needed.  He could not waste time on anyone.  He required his full attention.\u201d The beautiful… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[131,341],"class_list":["post-1280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-humility","tag-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1282,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions\/1282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}