Learning Curve

My, God- sometimes I think that I will never learn. Just when I think I've got it all figured out, that I'm well on my way to excellence, that I'm doing and saying all of the right things, it is just then that He pulls the rug out from under me. It's not anything malicious, but it was clear as crystal. You see, when we think we're moving in the right direction, the focus becomes more on ourselves and less and less on others and, unfortunately, the Lord. This is exactly the opposite way that it should have been. In just a few days or weeks, we put Him slowly on the back burner of our lives- oh, we say a prayer of course, but do we realize that nothing else in life or the world is going to matter if He is not in it, of it, and within it always? His voice came very strong to me today, as I sat in class thinking of all that had to be done and many other stresses, His voice came like a whisper, but one I've slowly begun to recognize: "there must be less and less of you and more of others . . . and Me. Put me first, and all other things will work themselves out in due time. Then your sights will be clear and paths will be straight." I suspect all of our stresses and concerns, problems and difficulties, even the ones you think are slight and unimportant, could begin to be repaired if He became the sole focus. Like the boy who couldn't learn to swim because he was so concentrated on the fact that he might NOT be able to, we are centered on the wrong things. Thankfully, He provides a learning curve- especially as you get closer to Him: the thoughts you would have brushed away and kept worrying, now warrant a closer look. You are developing wisdom, because you are beginning to listen. As C.S. Lewis once said, "Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn."