Clergy/Leaders’ Mal-list No. 1-139

IT’S GOOD TO BE ME!

From ‘Sunrise Sunset’ (HarperCollins/Harper San Francisco), Rowland Croucher’s book of daily meditations. Feel free to use or adapt it.

You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Mark 12:31.

Humans have a deep need to be loved, to develop a healthy self- love, an authentic self-esteem.

Self-esteem and selfishness are opposites, as Erich Fromm and others have taught us. Selfishness, he wrote in Escape from Freedom, is a kind of greediness. But like other forms of greed it is never satisfied, it is insatiable. The selfish person never gets enough attention, or praise. There is always a fear of not having enough, of being deprived of something. And so there is always an envy of anyone who might have ‘more’.

Narcissism is an inordinate love of self, which is at root a form of self-hatred. The narcissist is always trying to convince himself or herself that the ‘self’ of which he or she is so preoccupied really is as cute or lovable as they would like it to be (but is secretly aware is flawed somewhere).

We are creatures both of light and of darkness. We are like God, and like the devil. We are glorious, and we are sinful. We are lovable, and our evil thoughts words and deeds are a horror to God. So…?

Lord, save me from selfishness, which is a greedy preoccupation with myself. Rather, help me to love and believe in myself – but always to your glory. Amen.