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B55: Who Am I in the Universe? |
| This blog is written especially for the 15-25 age group, including my college students, whom I love, and for everyone else who sometimes feels lost and alone in the world.There is meaning in life.There is purpose.There is joy.We live in age of self-absorption, a culture in which depression and confusion have become the norm, not the exception.Suicide is thethird leadingcause of death among ages 15-24 andthe secondamong college students (afsp.org).We are apeople in constant search for happiness, from pills, from sex, and from self-made delusions.The root of this phenomenon?I surmiseit is the delusion thatI am the focal point around whicheverything else in the world revolves.We are all born with this delusion.Everyone in our little world is there to care for us and love us and get excited everytime we smile or say "da-da," butin a healthy development we will reach the realization that every other person in the world sees the world from their central perspective, not ours.We come to realize that everyone else has his/her own family, school, interests, etc.,just as we have ours.Especially inthe present age, however, many aregetting stuck in that self-absorption, and this is sure to lead toproblems in all areas of life.The self-absorbed person expects others to give allthe time.Everything is about me. Help me. Fix me. Need me. Notice me. Look at me. Advise me. Coddle me. Adore me.Author Olin Miller is quoted as saying "We probably wouldn?t worry about what people are thinking about us if we could know how seldom they do."There is much truth in his words.Everyone we know is not thinking aobut us all the time, just as we are not thinking aboutevery other individual all the time.Why didn?t anyone call to ask why I wasn?t at church last week?(Why don?t I call everyone who misses a Sunday?)Why isn?t everyone reading my blogs?(Whyam I not reading allof theirs?) |
| (Whyam I not reading allof theirs?)Why isn?t anyone noticing the sad look on my face?(Why do I not noticeall the sad looks around me everyday?)A friend recently e-mailed me the following pictures of the vastness of the universe, which well illustrate our size in the world (Thanks, Ina): Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky.It is more than 1000 light years away.A Hubble Telescope ultra deep field infrared view of countless entire galaxies billions of light-years away:Feelingsmall and insignificant now?Well, hold on.There?s anotherside of the story!Although we are no more important than the other6.6+ billion people on earth, we are just as important as allthe others, and one person who is not focused solely on himself can make a difference in the world!Martin Luther King,Jr. was one single human life.Mother Teresa was one single human life.BillyGraham, Martin Luther, Abe Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, C.S. Lewis, the Apostle Paul . . .Every person you admire is one singleperson in the vastuniverse, just as are you and I. Not one of them was happy all the time, but they used theirshort time on earth for the good of others, and they made a difference, maybe just to their ownfamilies or churches, maybe to the entire world, but all withsignificance.The best news of all is that the God who created all the heavens has also chosen to love you.Unconditionally.More than any human ever could.And the irony is that once we are able to focus our hearts and minds on the Creator, and on all the other billions of wonderful people He has created, the inner peace and joy that haseluded us will find us!Not that llife on this earth willever be perfect or without its dark valleys, but that our individual life has purpose and meaning.The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."There is no other commandment greater than these.(Mark 12:31 RSV)The following Casting Crowns song, Who Am I?,puts all these thoughts into perspective: |
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