Last year, while walking home from town, I had a thought based on an observation of a tree. For months I walked past the same line of trees along the road to town. One day, something grabbed my attention. I had to stop to make sure that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. As I took a second look, my suspicions were correct. I could see the traffic through one of the trees. My first thoughts were about how little I pay attention to things around me. It was clear that this tree in front of me was indeed hollow, and so eaten by termites, that even some of the bark allowed a clear view of the road way. However, I couldn’t see it in passing, because the outward appearance of the tree said it was healthy. It still had, and has, leaves on its branches. There were, and are, flowers blooming on it.
I then thought about how many of us claim to be “Spiritual”, but when we actually get a closer look at ourselves, we are just as hollow as the tree on the roadside. Whatever our brand of “Spirituality” is (Christians, this means us too…), we aren’t always as put together as we might think. We can say the right things, and look happy. We can look like we are doing things to show that we are the brand that we subscribe to. But, when people really get to know us, when they stop and take a closer look, they can see right through us.
We are going through a teaching series with our interns this year. The series is called “Get Over Yourself: Rebelling Against the Culture of Narcissism”. It is from a Canadian church called “The Meeting House”. You can find the podcast on iTunes, or on their website www.themeetinghouse.ca. The series talks about how we as a culture have become extremely self-absorbed. The listeners are challenged to look beyond themselves, and learn to live lives that are other person centered.
As I reflect on the teaching, I am starting to wonder about another perspective. What if we are hollow because we are neglecting to notice the hollowness of others around us? It is true that we can allow life’s distractions to eat us up to the point of appearing like we have it all together, when we really don’t. What would it look like if we focused on the needs of others first? What if our identity is not bound up in keeping up with the Jones’, but in serving them?
Stresses will come. I am not saying that when we are other person centered that life will become a bed of roses. I am wondering if we put so much emphasis on our problems that we fail to see the problems of those around us. In one of the messages, Bruxy Cavey (the teaching pastor at the Meeting House), put forth the challenge to spend enough time to get ourselves dressed in the morning to be presentable, and then spend an equal amount (if not more) of time dressing ourselves up on the inside. In another message, he challenged people to take time to list all of the things that they were thankful for each day. The time of reflection could be in the morning about the previous day’s events, or in the evening about that particular day’s events.
Cavey quoted a study, which had one group of people make a list like the one mentioned above. The participants made the list every day for ten weeks. At the end of those ten weeks the people felt better about themselves, had better physical health, and had more desire to meet the needs of others than those who did not make the list of things to be thankful for.
Maybe we aren’t as hollow as we thought. Maybe we are. Maybe our hollowness is a result of not noticing that others are hollow and need some kind of service or care. Take time to stop and really get to know someone. Enter into intentional, and authentic relationships with people, and see if they are feeling hollow. The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans:
“Therefore, I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:1-3 NASB)
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