It’s still echoing in my head. Our Sunday School teacher this morning talked about selfishness. He explained that there’s a fictitious story about a person who lived in an house that had no windows.
Only mirrors.
You can imagine how that person lived. Probably for the first little while she would glance occasionally at herself. Fixing her hair slightly and smiling awkwardly. Thinking, “someday, someone will come visit me”.
After awhile, she would probably have every inch of her face looked at regularly. She was ready to have someone come and visit. And ready she was. Until one day she started wondering why people weren’t coming.
No one. Perhaps it was her. She needed to change some things about herself. Perhaps she needed to laugh more. Or she noticed that her personality needed to change. Or maybe it was the way she thought negatively. More and more.
The longer she lived there, the more she concentrated on herself. And the more she navel-gazed, the more she found things wrong. It seemed like every time she looked into the mirror, she didn’t feel well. In fact she was amazed how many times she audibly told the mirror how she had a headache, how things weren’t doing well, and how she wasn’t happy with the status quo. Sadness found a permanent spot in her heart.
You see, when you can’t (or won’t) interact and see others, you often get a negative perception of yourself. You feel like everyone is against you. Your mind turns against you.
It’s that way with social media. You know, facebook, twitter and the like. So many people live a persona of no windows. They just talk about themselves and never take the time to write on another person’s wall.
If you’re not caring and interacting with others; you’ll find yourself complaining a lot.
About your health. Your job. Your friends. Your environment.
Lord help us to move into “houses” with windows. And love others. Reaching out and interacting. And most of all, let us stop looking at ourselves in the mirrors we’ve erected all around us.
Philippians 2: 3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
