As I sit in the porch before the sun shows up my mind continues to wander down many rabbit trails. One of the phrases that has been echoing through my mind recently is “it’s not about you”. I questioned the motives of the people who keep using that phrase, and I keep trying to understand why I react to it so much.
This morning as I was contemplating the greatness of God and being overwhelmed by my incomprehension, I thought about how this God who cares about each and every individual, and is aware of who we are and what we’re thinking, is the same God who holds everything together. Here Paul is talking about Jesus,
Colossians 1:17 (NASB95) He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.Jesus holds the universe together.
That’s a very noble thought, but what does that mean specifically. In our grand moments, we think of nebula, galaxies, red giant stars, black holes, and I guess for that matter donut holes. But I wanted to be more specific so I just kind of looked around in the dark and asked myself, what can I see?
The first thing I saw were bricks. I have these columns on my front porch that support the roof. I’m not sure what’s in the core, but the outside is covered with bricks. My mind reached out to those bricks. I would’ve examined each and every atom, but that’s beyond my ability. It’s not beyond God‘s ability. One of the reasons we can live in this world is because we know that God is maintaining the integrity of those bricks. He’s making sure that those electrons continue to revolve around the nucleus. According to my understanding of physics, those electrons should eventually slow down and the atoms disintegrate. Yet they keep charging down their path. The bricks continue to stand.
As I look out in the dark, I can see the outline of trees covered with leaves and dimly in the distance, I can see the shadow of the semi-arid forest surrounding me. Up in the sky, I watch a star appear and disappear because the cloud cover is moving between me and it. I think of the water vapor and how God causes it to condense or not, depending on the other laws of physics, He has put in place.
In spite of that, it is still about me. That’s not the narcissistic, individualistic, self-centered me that I’m talking about. It is the me of humanity. Each and every one of us is created in the image of God. Each and every one of us has an awareness that we exist. Each and every one of us has responsibility to respond to the call of God.
You better believe it it’s about me.
homo unius libri
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