I sure have felt like this the past few days…<\/p>\n
Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz quotes a poem by C.S. Lewis:<\/p>\n
All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
\nI never had a selfless thought since I was born.
\nI am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
\nI want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
\nI cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
\nI talk of love – a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek –
\nBut, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnd then comments:<\/p>\n
I sat there above the city wondering if I was like the parrot in Lewis’s poem, swinging in my cage, reciting Homer, all the while having no idea what I was saying. I talk about love, forgiveness, social justice; I rage against American materialism in the name of altruism, but have I even controlled my own heart? The overwhelming majority of time I spend thinking about myself, pleasing myself, reassuring myself, and when I am done there is nothing to spare for the needy. Six billion people live in this world, and I can only muster thoughts for one. Me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I sure have felt like this the past few days… Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz quotes a poem by C.S. Lewis: All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you. I never had a selfless thought since I was born. I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through; I want God, you, all friends, merely … <\/p>\n