Soul Food

This morning I am listening to Barber’s Adagio for Strings. When I was in my early 20s I finally got around to reading CSL’s Chronicles of Narnia. I don’t remember why, but each time I picked up one of the books, Barber’s Adagio is what I listened to. So now, whenever I hear it, I am transported to Narnia. 

Music can be powerful. I think Huxley was correct in saying that, after silence, music comes the closest to “expressing the inexpressible.”

My first experience with the potentially transcendent nature of music was when I heard Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony, the summer before my 6^th grade year. Dad walked in, saw me, and yelled out to my mother, “Billie! He is crying … over music!” I didn’t realize I was crying. To this day I cannot listen to Beethoven’s music without a profound sense of ineffable beauty and joy. Then again, this can also be said about so many, many other scores of music.

Music, for me, elicits such deep emotional responses. This is how joy, or grief, or madness, or death, or love, sounds. I know that I am not alone here. Even those individuals who do not think about such things finds themselves gravitating toward music that makes them feel a certain way, creates a specific psychological state, and avoiding music that creates unwanted feelings.

Soul Food

Some music is like cotton candy for the brain: too much of it leads to brain-decay. Then there is the jellybean music that gives us happy feet and faces. Jellybeans are awesome but not as your primary food group. And who hasn’t indulged their taste buds with the crème brulee of sappy, sentimental, or maudlin music?  “O, honey. (Sniff. Sniff.) Doesn’t this remind you of Sparky? He was such a good dog.” However, what about music that transports and enriches the soul? What about music that transports your soul into the transcendent where you encounter love, beauty, and goodness?

Some people have said to me, “Wilson, you have to have a taste for such music. I don’t.” You said the same thing to your mother, when she told you to eat your vegetables. I notice that when you became a man, you actually started enjoying broccoli, eh? When you were a child, you ate as a child, or tried to. Now that you are an adult, I suggest that you put some limits on that childish diet, and develop a taste for what nourishes the soul. Or not. It’s your soul.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013

The Power of Virtue

He who sows virtue reaps glory. –Leonardo da Vinci

People seek power. Some do so covertly or subtly, others are all out front with it, but we all want influence somewhere. I believe that the power that builds people up, that moves families, and communities, businesses and institutions, in a positive and healthy direction is inexorably tied to moral excellence. Any other power, however well intentioned, inevitably beats people down, manipulating them “for their own good.” Office, title, brute strength or force, position: if power rests on any of these, the ability to inspire is severely limited, if not downright impossible.

Virtue is a wonder-working power, acting as a magnet that draws others into its circle of influence. Skills, base of knowledge, talent, and vision, are important for sure, but at the end of the day if these are not supported by moral excellence, there is a hole in the soul where true power is dribbling (or pouring!) out. Virtue inspires and gives credence and authority in ways that nothing else does.

I am not suggesting that skills, knowledge, and vision, are unimportant. You can be a “saint,” but if you don’t know what you are doing or talking about at home or in the office, you will be ignored: respectfully, of course!!

Keeping your word, being directed in word and deed by love and respect, maintaining an attitude of humility, having a generous soul, seeking to always have pure motives, being temperate, courageous, just, and prudent, these are the attributes that opens the minds and hearts of others to your influence. It is the virtuous person who “makes me want to be a better man,” who inspires me to listen to what he has to say, and engenders a deep trust in his leadership.

Confucius said, “He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.” Virtuous people act as North Stars that others use for guidance and inspiration. While titles and offices are helpful, virtuous leaders do not depend on such things for their ability to influence. Their virtue shines so brightly that, even without the title, people will follow their lead, looking to them for wisdom and hope.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013

Who Defines Virtue?

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. –St Paul

In thinking about our legends and legacies, as well as about being the kind of people who inspire others to say, “You make me want to be a better man,” I started thinking about virtue. We don’t hear much about virtue or moral excellence today. In fact, when we do it is usually used pejoratively. Snit-like: “Well, aren’t you the virtuous woman.” But for thousands of years, understanding the nature of virtue was thought to be of paramount importance for living the good life, and, thus, experiencing true happiness.

Back in the antique days of Greece (also known as Classical Antiquity), the philosophers wrestled with the nature of virtue and what comprised the virtues that all other virtues hinged upon. Their considerable thought brought some of them (cf. Plato and Cicero) to these four virtues: Temperance, Fortitude (Courage), Justice, and Prudence. Hundreds of years later, St. Augustine defined these virtues, thusly: (T)hat temperance is love giving itself entirely to that which is loved; fortitude is love readily bearing all things for the sake of the loved object; justice is love serving only the loved object, and therefore ruling rightly; prudence is love distinguishing with sagacity between what hinders it and what helps it." (De moribus eccl., Chap. xv)

So. What Augustine is saying is that, when you get down to it, virtue is basically all about love: living in love, and being directed in thought, word, and deed, by love for God, others, and self. In saying this, however, Plato and Augustine understood the nature of love, not as something to be defined by each individual, but something with a given nature whose reality was to be discovered and followed after. Today, however, we demand freedom to define love, and thus virtue, in any way we wish.

When the ancient philosophers like Plato and early Christian writers such as Augustine wrote about being truly free they were referring to the freedom to realize our proper essence: actualizing who we were created to become. Freedom was not about having an unrestrained will, but a will directed by those virtues proper to our created essence. The freest life, then, was a life lived before the gods (Pagans), the Good (Plato), or God (the Christians). Today, however, true freedom is seen as the ability to “do whatever I damn well want to.”  I guess this is why we don’t hear much about virtue today.

On second thought, there is one sacred “virtue” to which our culture does adhere: every man and woman’s right to decide what “morality” best fits themselves. When a culture does away with God, it inevitably adopts some form of nihilism or hedonism, where there is no transcendent Truth, and no Ultimate Authority who defines the nature of “goodness,” much less the true nature of “love.”  Love is whatever I say it is. Here the “virtuous” Ideal is personal autonomy, where my choices are my choices because they are my choices. How’s that for a philosophical foundation for morality!  

When I speak of seeking to live a virtuous life, I am coming from the point of view that virtue is not something we define, but a way of being that is defined by God (See The Life of Christ and The Bible), and is the only way to realizing our true created nature, and, therefore, the only way of experiencing true happiness. To state this in the negative, not living a virtuous life leads to misery. (See American culture.)

However worthy and noble your dreams and vision for your life are, the question here is, by what standard of morality are you living as you are seeking to fulfill your vision? How are you demonstrating virtue or moral excellence in word, attitudes, and deeds? Remember the words of Christ, people: What good will it be for you to gain the world—to realize all of your dreams and visions--but lose your soul. 

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013

Legends and Legacies

For rational beings, every action has an end in mind. For Legendary Leaders the end is something that lasts longer than the span of their lives. Grabbing fifteen minutes of fame is of no interest to such people. The end they have in mind is generational and eternal. –Monte E Wilson, Legendary Leadership

Creating our personal legends, as I used that phrase in my book, is not about becoming famous, just as leaving a legacy worthy of our faith, beliefs, ideals, and vision, is not about being famous long after we are dead. However important my work is, what is of far greater importance is the vision I have of the world that I wish to help create, and the ideals with which I wish to fill that world. Because of this, Legendary Leaders think in terms of generations.

Thinking generationally infers that we are planning and working in ways where the vision that is guiding our lives is carried on into the future. This requires that we are constantly seeking to instill our vision for our worlds into the hearts and minds of others, educating them as to how to transfer what is ethereal (the vision) into other heads and hearts, where we all then are seeking to transform neighborhoods and communities, businesses and institutions, into real places that incarnate our vision: places that will live on long after we die.

Part of the vision I have for my life is motivating people toward an abiding intention to developing great souls, for only such souls are capable of great world changing deeds. However, and this is critical, by “world” I am referring to the worlds in which the people are living and working, the world that consists of their families, churches, schools, neighborhoods, and offices. Most of us do not have platforms or callings to change the trajectory of the nations in which we live! We do, however, have platforms in our little corners of the world. It is here, in these corners, where we seek to realize or manifest our visions.

Another aspect of my vision is motivating people toward creating God honoring environments. Whether the environment is their homes, their neighborhoods, their churches, or their offices, I believe that each of us has the responsibility of doing what we can to create places where God the Creator and Father is honored in word and deed. We do this, first, by being God honoring people ourselves: through being men and women who honor the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, that we find in God in all that we are, say, and do. Second, we then, as servants not lords, seek to influence others to live in the same manner.

However small my corner of the world is, and however small my actual deeds are, in everything I do I am seeking to bring God--the nature of God, and the ways of God--into greater clarity in the minds and hearts of the people I influence. Whatever your particular vision is, whatever ideals are most critical to you for people to incarnate in their lives, I believe all of us are “called” to do our part in bringing greater clarity to people’s minds as to Who God Is. In Christian language, this is what it means to “glorify God,” and has to do with eternity.  

From my book: Legendary Leadership: 
“Bringing glory to God is not about passing out religious pamphlets or having some pious bon mot written on your stationary or a bumper sticker. Glorifying God is about going on a Quest to become the person He created you to be, about working to make our families, neighborhoods, schools, and offices, more God-honoring environments, and about Questing after the reason you are here and, then, seeking to fulfill that reason.”

“The Legend that matters most, of course, is God’s. His reputation in the earth is The End of all ends. The more our personal legend is tied to His, the greater our legacy. I am not one who thinks God needs our help, mind you. I do believe, however, that He chooses to allow us to participate in His plans for the earth. The more our plans and actions support His, the more clarity we bring to the awareness of others as to His greatness.”  How’s that for a Legend and a Legacy?

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013

"You Make Me Want To Be a Better Man"

Virtue and genuine graces in themselves speak what no words can utter.

 –Shakespeare

From As Good As It Gets (1997, James L. Brooks, Director) 

MELVIN (Jack Nicholson):  Okay, I got a real great compliment for you and it's true.

CAROL (Helen Hunt):  I am so afraid you're about to say something awful ...

MELVIN:  Don't be pessimistic. It's not your style…

MELVIN:  You make me want to be a better man

I think Melvin has hit upon something here that is critical in how we go about taking our stands for the kind of world we wish to create, the legacies we wish to leave our children and grandchildren. I believe that our lives--our work, our behavior, our words, and our attitudes--should motivate people to want to be better human beings.

Ask yourself, is there something about me that causes people to want to behave or cease behaving in a specific manner? Does the way I go about living my life, doing my work, raising my children, conversing with others, inspire people? When they walk away from having been with me do they, however quietly or subtly, find themselves asking bigger and better questions about, say, the meaning of life and love, faith and commitment, or goodness and virtue: not simply because of what I had said but because of who I am?

What is it that my presence, your presence, inspires in people? When I consider the effect I have on people in my world, what is it that I appear to be giving them permission to do or strive toward or say… and is it “better”? And, most importantly, toward what and Whom are my words, actions, and attitudes, demonstrably pointing people?

Jesus said that when people saw Him, they were seeing the Father. Jesus came to show us what God was like. From His life, His way of being in the world, we see that God is love; that He isn’t all about condemning the world but, rather, forgiving and saving it; and that He is establishing a realm bright with truth, filled with love, goodness, and beauty, and with justice for all people. Of course when those who hate the good for being good saw Jesus they were motivated to pick up stones and throw them at Him. But true seekers, honest seekers of God, or at least of Truth and Goodness, heard Him gladly and strove to be able to touch or be touched by Him.

Acknowledging all the limitations and frailties of our mortality, and the fact that, unlike Christ, we are not God walking on the earth, should there not be something about us where, when people are in our presence, they are seeing something of what God is like, what living in His realm is like? Shouldn’t there be flashes of the brightness of His truth emanating from our lives and words? Shouldn’t there be a captivating sense of His love for the world without tint of condemnation? Shouldn’t people be able to look at us, listen to us, and sense that, “There is something about his love, her goodness, the beauty of how they are living, that makes me want to discover the Source of it all, to enquire about their God,” or at the very least, “to want to be a better man”? Okay. Some will want to throw stones, but you get my point.

Have you ever known someone who made you want to be a better person? I have. Simply by being in this person’s presence a new world filled with greater possibilities immediately opened before me. And I didn’t merely note these possibilities for growth and expansion as a human being, but was inspired to realize them in my day-to-day life. This is the kind of man I wish to become, the kind of people I think we all aspire to be: an individual whose character and way of being inspires others toward a deeper understanding of Truth, Goodness, Beauty — and of God Himself.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013

A Father’s Day Memoriam: Monte E Wilson, Jr.

My dad was larger than life, to me. He was five foot and eleven inches, had a broad chest, jet-black hair, bushy eyebrows, was handsome, and had a presence that filled any room he walked into, without saying a word. He was two parts St Paul, one part John Wayne: he knew the Truth of God in Holy Writ and, pilgrim, you had better listen up. For a little over 35 years, he was my supporter and cheerleader, my sparring partner and coach, and my greatest hero.

I have no memories of ever needing my dad and him not being there for me. (The same goes for my mother.) I remember him calling me late one night while I was lying in my dorm room at Samford University, sick with what the doctor referred to as walking pneumonia. “Your sister just called and told me you were ill. I’ll be up there tomorrow to check on you.” The next day he and my brother Richard drove from St. Petersburg to Birmingham to hang out with me for 3 days. That was my father. Whether it was a crisis, a decision with which I was struggling, or a victory I was celebrating, he was right there with me and for me.

As a coach, dad was formidable. Arguing and intellectually sparring with him was like arguing with a man who had completely mastered Socratic thinking, memorized the Encyclopedia Britannica, and was actually alive during the times of the Old and New Testaments. You’d think I would shy away from any and all arguments with him but hope sprang eternal that I could best him. And I was young, which is to say, arrogant.

I remember one time during my 9^th grade year coming home from school and proudly announcing that I had wiped the floor with a classmate with whom I had debated Evolution v Creation. Reading the notes I had used, my dad kept burrowing his bushy eyebrows until he finally threw my notes down and announced he would not only have destroyed my arguments in favor of Creation, but also, had he been the teacher, he would have failed me. Dad believed in Creation. “Your science is outdated, your logic is faulty, and you didn’t engage the best arguments from the best minds in support of evolution. I have no doubt that you out talked the guy but that doesn’t mean you won the debate. I don’t want you ever to speak of this subject again until you actually know what you are talking about.” (Cue Dad walking away peeved with me.)

As I reflect on dad’s life, there are many experiences that stand out as heroic to me, but, as I am now 60, one stands out in particular. As I grew into adulthood, many of our beliefs, well, let’s just say they diverged. Our arguments were epic. When he was in his 30s and 40s, one of dad’s greatest faults was that all his convictions were written in capital letters and, if you differed from The Truth, as he perceived it, you were excommunicated from his circle of friends.  Consequently, he was a very lonely man. By the time he was in his 50s, however, dad had made major character changes, whereby, virtue had become as important as Truth to him. Do you know how few people over 40 years old are willing to make such massive shifts in character? Very few. To this day, I pray that I would be able to follow in his footsteps remaining malleable until the day I die.

Dad died February 16^th, 1988, at the age of 61. Due to failing kidneys (diabetes) and an inner-ear neuropathy, he was pretty much bed ridden for 4 years. The last years of his life were purgatorial. Given his mood swings during this time and the fact that we all knew he wasn’t long for this world, it was also purgatorial for mom and the children. Two days before he died, while sitting on his bed talking with him, he asked me what was troubling me. “You are dying dad. It’s not important.” He replied, “You are agonizing over something, son. Talk to me.” After pouring out my heart, he shared with me the wisdom of a man who had spent his adult life seeking the Holy Grail of loving God with all of his heart, soul, and strength, and loving others as he loved himself. One last time, dad was there for me, coaching me, and challenging me with his heroic faith, all while slipping into eternity.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013 

Your Soul at Work

Most people are dissatisfied with their jobs for the same reason that they are dissatisfied with their lives: they have forgotten that they have immortal souls. Even those people who are intent upon doing good work for integrity’s sake oftentimes fail to see the transcendent nature of their work, because they have left their souls out of the equation. Having negated the soul, they forget that even the smallest gesture, word, attitude, or action, are reflecting something of their souls (for good or ill), and that the work itself is an avenue for deep soul work. It is not solely about the work we produce, but also the work that is being accomplished in us and through us that is of eternal consequence.

Consider these two passages from Wendell Berry’s book, “Christianity and the Survival of Creation”:

It is impossible to see how good work might be accomplished by people who think that our life in this world either signifies nothing or has only a negative significance. If, on the other hand, we believe that we are living souls, God's dust and God's breath, acting our parts among other creatures all made of the same dust and breath as ourselves; and if we understand that we are free, within the obvious limits of moral human life, to do evil or good to ourselves and to the other creatures - then all our acts have a supreme significance. If it is true that we are living souls and morally free, then all of us are artists. All of us are makers, within mortal terms and limits, of our lives, of one another's lives, of things we need and use...


If we think of ourselves as living souls, immortal creatures, living in the midst of a Creation that is mostly mysterious, and if we see that everything we make or do cannot help but have an everlasting significance for ourselves, for others, and for the world, then we see why some religious teachers have understood work as a form of prayer...

When all we see is the work at hand, our perspective is earth bound, time bound, because the work is all there is, and all there is begins with me and ends when my life ends. Even if you are a brain surgeon who is saving lives every day, if you are not engaging your soul, if you forget that both you and your patients are “God’s dust and God’s breath,” there is a world of supreme significance and meaningfulness that you are not seeing or experiencing.

What if every day you went to work knowing that most everything that is about to occur is being used for soul work? What if you approached the struggles, the conflicts, the temptations, and all the possibilities for expressing your love for God and others that you initiate or ignore, as tools that are shaping your soul? Now, the reality is that, whether you see this or not, all these things are determining the character of your soul. The only question here is whether your soul is becoming an “immortal horror” or an “everlasting splendor.” (CS Lewis)

Yet it is not only a case where the work that we are doing is helping to shape our souls, but that where we work is a place where we express our souls: our love for God and others, our stands and commitments regarding integrity and virtue, or the lack thereof. What is pouring out of your soul every day into the work place and onto your work mates? Is it a testament of an individual who is living with the awareness that they have an immortal soul and are engaging other immortal souls? Does your work reflect the knowledge that what you do, how you go about doing what you do, and who you are, have eternal significance? Whatever your answers here, what you are being presented with are opportunities for a more thoroughgoing soul work. You are also being shown possibilities for furthering the transformation of your workplace into an avenue for expressing the depth and breadth of an immortal soul that is ever-increasingly filled with love for the eternal God and for all those with whom you work, who also have immortal souls that are at stake.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013

Back Then, When I Was Older

Ah, but I was so much older then

I’m younger than that now. --Bob Dylan

After my last post, Simply Irresistible, a buddy of mine asked me about Youthful Arrogance (YA) and whether or not it was a form of narcissism. After our conversation I thought back to my own youth (particularly when I was in my 20s) and how I sometimes still cringe over the memory of some of the things I said and did. Of course, back then, I saw myself as a Righteous Crusader for whatever cause I was presently advocating, and, what I see now as character deficiencies, I saw then as attributes.

Consider the Spiritual Malady of YA:

Impatient Idealism: When you see a young adult who frowns a lot you are usually seeing the face of youthful arrogance. Lots of tsk, tsk, tsking of most everyone and everything that does not live up to The Ideal. Now. Instant Gratification is the motto. They want change, today, whether in others, in their churches, in the government, or at the office. This is why most revolutionary movements prey on young people. Impatient Idealists with a mission that has to be realized now, “or we start throwing bombs and bricks.”

Invincible and (Almost) Immortal: While Impatient Idealism distorts time by demanding Rome be built in a day, the Highlander Clan, being Immortals, have all the time in the world and yawn at the foolish risks they take. Furthermore, crumbling relationships? Not to worry, I’ll get around to it. Not developing a skill or knowledge base to advance a career: plenty of time. What about daily expressions or demonstrations of love to those around you: Yeah, maybe tomorrow. Doing today what should be done today because you aren’t promised tomorrow never occurs to them. And, o yeah, I can jump off that cliff and walk away: just watch this!

Opinionated to the Nth Degree: It’s all Black or White, Right or Wrong, and they aren’t seeing through any dark glass, St Paul to the contrary. They are not only correct in all that they assert, but they are overbearing in all their rightness. And if per chance they stumble upon facts that prove them wrong, they won’t acknowledge this, but merely change their story, saying it is what they always had believed. And they have actually convinced themselves that this is true. 

No Need for Others: Not that they don’t have friends, but they hold a belief that they can do this, make it through that, and solve those challenges over there, all on their own. And maybe so in some situations, but it would be far easier if they reached out for help.

Failure to Acknowledge and Accept Limitations: They can out shoot Josey Wales, out fly Maverick, out box Rocky, and out think Inspector Callahan—the Detective who famously and wisely noted, “A man has GOT to know his limitations.”

There is an old Arabian proverb that says, “Arrogance diminishes wisdom.” So, wisdom begins with taking on humility. I am not referring to self-hatred or to denying your strengths and talents. Humility embraces all of my reality: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

We need noble Ideals: Idealism is arrogant.

We need to seek change and improvement in our worlds: demanding it all happen today is arrogant.

Being firm in our convictions is an attribute: being unwilling to listen and possibly be wrong is arrogance.

Taking calculated risks is commendable: not seeking out the wisdom and possibly the help of others is arrogance.

Being assertive with my strengths is healthy: failure to acknowledge my limitations is arrogance.

Taking life, my calling, my relationships, and so forth, seriously, is wise: taking myself too seriously is arrogant. (Lighten up and learn to laugh at yourself!)

Youthful arrogance is understandable in the young. Not so much in older people. Moreover, with the young, YA is far easier to overcome than, say, when you get into your late 30s or older.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013

Simply Irresistible!

I’m a craze you'd endorse, I’m a powerful force

You're obliged to conform when there's no other course

I used to look good to me, but now I find me

Simply Irresistible!

(With apologies to Robert Palmer)

Buckle up!

Do you have problems with sustaining long-term satisfying relationships? Are the people in your world constantly “projecting” back to you a “self” you do not recognize? “No, no, that’s not me. You don’t understand!”  Looking back on those people who were close but are now marginalized or who have disappeared altogether: is one of the common denominators here the fact that these people didn’t continuously applaud your every move or organize their lives around you, your beliefs, or your demands? Does it aggravate you to no end when people refuse to accept that your way of seeing things is the only permissible viewpoint? How many close friends do you have that feel free to give you less than flattering feedback? Do you find remorse to be an alien concept? When was the last time you truly and humbly asked someone to forgive you?  Is a consistent sense of gratitude not in your emotional repertoire? Do you find it difficult if not impossible to truly empathize with others, which is not the same thing as projecting your own thoughts and feelings onto them? When you are with your friends, do you find that you are usually the one directing and even controlling the conversations?

If you were thinking, “Wow, a lot of this sounds like me”? Bad News: You are a Narcissist.  

As Ovid tells the story, Narcissus was walking in the woods one day when he sensed someone following him. Aggravated, he cries out, “Who’s there?” Echo, a wood nymph who had fallen in love with him, replies, “Who’s there?” (Get it? “Echo”?) Revealing herself, she runs up to Narcissus and tries to lay one on him, but he wont have anything to do with the poor girl and tells her to get lost. Heartbroken, she pines away in the woods until nothing is left of her but an echo.

The Goddess Nemesis, being over the Department of Revenge, was not amused by all of this so took out after Narcissus with payback blazing in her eyes. Knowing he would fall in love with his image, she lured him to a lake where he saw his reflection in the water… and swooned. Not being able to tear himself away, he sat there day after day, adoringly peering at himself, until he died. 

And it is here, dear reader, where we get the word, Narcissist.

While we typically think of such people as proud and haughty, narcissism can take on other forms as well, such as the Preening Victim or the Humblest (or The Most Loving) of All People. But it is still all about me, me, and, O yeah, Starring Me!  

But what about those of us who, from time to time, succumb to narcissism-lite, or narcissism with a small “n”?

When the healthy pursuit of self-actualization or self-realization morphs into self-absorption, we have started drinking narcissism-lite: a very addictive brew, indeed.

When I begin interpreting and evaluating people’s attitudes and behaviors solely in terms of myself—my needs, agenda, beliefs, and feelings—I am wading in the dangerous waters of narcissism.

When I go a long period of time only thinking of my own interests and needs and have utterly forgotten or ignored the interests and needs of others, I have been auditioning for the part of a narcissist!

When I am harder on myself than God, when I demand more than God requires, I am informing God that I am what: Holier than Him? Know more than Him? Can you spell n-a-r-c-i-s-s-i-s-t?

The antidotes to narcissism are love and humility. Loving God with all of my heart, mind, and strength, I am reminded that He is God, and I am not, which is the root of humility. Giving my heart and life to loving God, my heart begins learning to love as He loves, love who and what He loves. And humbly loving others as I love myself leads me to care for their needs, their battles, and their souls, as passionately as I do my own. These are the people we truly find irresistible.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013