The lane of traffic I was in was abruptly cut off due to road work…so I had to move into the other lane.  Traffic was stopped, and there was a small opening between cars, so I put my turn signal on and began to move over.  The lady behind me was determined that this was NOT going to happen.  I was NOT going to get in front of her.  She hit the gas…and came flying towards my van.  She almost rammed into me!  I’m sitting there in disbelief, thinking…”for what??  Just so she could be the one in front of me??”  It just didn’t make any sense to me!  We could have both wrecked our vehicles, one of us…if not both of us could have gotten a ticket, been late to wherever we were headed….  And for what?  

I looked out my window and said, “Oh come on!  Really?”  

At that point…I got the one finger salute 

There is a “disease” invading the world today…it’s at epidemic proportions in our society!  It’s called, “ME FIRST-ITIS”.  Some of the side effects to this disease are rudeness, an uncompassionate detached attitude, greed, stepping on anyone and everyone to get to the top of the heap, ingratitude, believing that everyone owes us something…but we owe no one, and entitlement…to name a few.

Now, we must all admit that we have been guilty of having this “disease” from time to time.  For some of us, it is temporary-depending on the level of frustration in our current situation.  For others…it is a chronic “disease” that never seems to go away.

 

When we think we will benefit…we run to the front of the line to be First.  When we see someone in the wrong, we are quick to sit in judgment, and even presume to tell God in our prayers how He should handle that person.    

 

However, when we are in the wrong, we slink to the back of the line, and hope no one will point out our faults…especially Jesus!  We hope He won’t notice.

 

I knew a lady that used to “pray” for her husband.  He wasn’t quite all the things she had hoped for in a man, so she would tell God in her “prayers” to…”Fix him…or kill him, Lord!”  These are not the kind of “prayers” God wants from us!

So what is the cure for this “disease” that is pandemic?

I believe that the only cure is, in today’s terms, a holistic one.  Fight like, with like.  We should be saying and thinking…ME FIRST!

 

 

7 1-5 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

 

My prayer today…and hopefully EVERYDAY is:

ME FIRST, LORD!  FIX ME FIRST!

Anita