Easter: The Antithesis of Narcissism

"My reflection would be more lovely if the water were more pure."

For Christians, the Christmas Star and the Empty Tomb serve as bookends around what has become known as "The Christ Event". But as Christians, we also believe that Christ was not a temporal, mortal man. We believe that He existed in the beginning and will orchestrate an end that has yet to unfold.

As such, we believe that God created man in His image, also immortal and eternal by nature. Life provides an environment by which we choose to live out eternity in the darkness of death or in the light of Life.

Then we spend our days trying to live up to that higher calling; to be in the light as He is in the light. We try to discern and do good, perceive and reject evil, be transformed by the renewing of our minds and be conformed to the image of Christ in every conceivable way.

Unlike Narcissus, we gaze upon our own reflections and see our imperfection, our shortcomings, our weaknesses and failures.

And if we're not careful, like Narcissus, we become enraptured by that reflection.

As I reread my blog posts over the past few years, I realize how self centered (if not narcissistic) I am. My theme this year of Wellness and Strength, my Momentum thoughts of 2011, my perspective on homosexuality (which I still can't believe I put out there for everyone on the planet to read), even my thoughts on God and how to live life, think and act in congruence with my knowledge of Him - the whole list is all about me.

In my defense, I don't know what else I'd write about. I don't know anything about anybody else.

But still, on this particular Easter, the wind is blowing in a different direction. My thoughts today are that the whole reason for Easter is to set me (and all of us) free from the paradigm above. God died for us because He loves us, and that is our only hope - our only salvation.

When He walked among us, Jesus healed ten blind people. Nine of them went off looking at stuff. They could see at last, and I'm sure they were busy looking. Maybe they were enraptured by all of the stuff they could see. One of the ten came back to say, "Thank You."

I'm sure I'll get back to my own reflection soon...to all of the stuff that's wrong with me and how to fix it, overcome it, etc. But today, I just want to say, "Thank You, Christ Jesus for all that You are, for all that You have done, for all that You are doing day by day in and around me, for Your love and sacrifice on my behalf, for life and light."

Maybe that's all I really need to do every day.