All About Me

Every year as the Holidays roll around, I find myself tensing up a bit.

You see, I am a very selfish person. God is helping me out with that, but I still want what I want, when I want it.

For example: In theory, Thanksgiving is probably my favorite Holiday of the year. You have turkey, Lions football (I don't know why I torture myself) and family time (again, I don't know why I torture myself... just kidding... not really). There are turkey induced naps and occasionally a movie or a little bowling (I'll explain that another day).

BUT... ever since the year 1988, my Thanksgiving fantasy world has never been the same. In 1988, I started dating Cheryl and that is when we started the "Blended Family Functions." Don't get me wrong, I love Cheryl's family but more people in the mix makes "Selfish Boy," slightly uncomfortable.

The dating years were not as bad, because when you are dating you are able to tolerate a lot more. You want to make the future in-laws happy, you know. Then the first couple of years of marriage you have all the "we went to your parent's house last year," fights. After that you start to crave your independence and you want to break away from both families and have your very own Thanksgiving, but unless you have kids there is no excuse good enough to pull that one off.

Let me get to the real issue I have with Thanksgiving. This will key you into how truly dysfunctional I really am. I just want to be able to watch the Lions game. No, I am not kidding, that is really it. That is how petty I really am folks.

Every year, all I want to do is watch the Lions lose a football game. When I ask Cheryl, "When do we need to get to your dad's place?" and she says, "Around 2:00," or when my mom tells me that we are going to eat around 3:oo p.m. I want to shout, "Am I the only one in my entire family who wants to watch football (the answer is yes by the way)?" Don't they know that the game starts at 12:30 p.m. and if we have to drive out to Cheryl's dad's place it takes 45 minutes? Halftime is only 15 minutes and we all know that is not enough time. Can't my mom just push dinner back a bit further to compensate for the game? Can't everyone just bow to the will of Lord Scotty?!?!

It sounds so ridiculous. It is ridiculous, but I still feel that way sometimes.

I'm learning more and more that God is trying to get a message to me... "It's not all about you, Scott." I keep hearing, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last (Matthew 20:16)."

Later on in Matthew 20 Jesus tells the disciples, "It's not about you," after James and John's mother asks for her sons to sit beside Jesus in Heaven. The other disciples hear about this and get pretty ticked off. So Jesus takes the opportunity to remind them that it's not about "you."

(26) ...whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, (27) and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— (28) just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

How much more clear can it be? If I truly want to be a Christ follower, I have to forget about me and make it all about others. Besides loving God with everything in me, what else is there? I have to love others like I love myself... it's so easy to say, yet so not human to do. My prayer is that the He will increase and I, the selfish Lions game craving Scott, will decrease.

Happy Thanksgiving... Go Lions!