When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.”
–Bernard Bailey
I’m often struck by how much I think about me. I’m an introspective person, so maybe I have a heighten sense of this compared to most people, but really, have you stopped and thought about how much “you” were the topic of your internal conversation? “I” am how I perceive the world, how I make sense of what goes on around me, and how I evaluate my relationships. We talk in terms of what happens to us – as if the person on the freeway who cut in front purposefully tried to ruin “my” day. We judge people on how they treat “me” regardless of who they actually might be. We perceive, quite readily, that our experiences are what makes up reality and therefore our perception of reality is what’s true.
It’s amazing then that as Christians what happens to “us” is supposed to be the least of our concerns. First, our life is no longer our own – we’ve given it as a gift of love in response to the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. Secondly, our back is covered; we have the Creator of the universe paving the path that we’re to tread. There’s no reason to be focused on what’s going happen to along the way; ultimately our destination is paradise. Being freed from the focus on us allows us to focus on others and in helping to make sure that their arrival is also secured.
Perceiving the universe with me at the center might be ridiculously common. But let’s hope we get a right perception of things before science proves how ridiculous it actually is.