As a child, my mother would often remind me that doing what others are doing is not usually a wise choice. She would say, “don’t let them draw you in”. She sure knew me well, when I was a child and up through my early twenties, I just wanted to be accepted, to be part of something, to be welcomed.
My confession here is for a purpose, I could (and still can be) drawn into things that were quite often negative because of my internal needs. I would not do just anything to be accepted, but I would do a lot. The truth is, it is hard to resist just fitting in with others, even today. I am betting that in those moments you are honest with yourself, you too find it easy to be drawn in.
Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes we need to be drawn into good things. The Sacred is constantly offering things to us that should draw us in to the best things in life. The price here though is that we must be honest about who we are and what we are motivated by. It is quite true that you can do good things and sin! Sin means to miss the mark, to do it your way and for your motives rather than God’s way.
I believe that in the Our Father (Lord’s prayer) this is what is meant by “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”. We need to be delivered from the evil that is our own ego. Our own needs that we want to find ways to fill on our own, instead of being honest with ourselves. If we choose to remain unreflective about ourselves, we run the very real risk of being “tempted” to being drawn in by our own ego and our own need to be loved or accepted.
If we will look first at ourselves in an honest way, we will see ourselves as God does, forgiven and loved. This is the only way to avoid being drawn into negative and often hurtful thoughts and acts. If we are hurting, our tendency is to hurt others. Let’s instead love ourselves as the Sacred does and the we will immediately know how to love those who do not love us. Let love draw us in!
TMM