For years, I watched my life in the third person. It was as though I had access to a camera through which I could watch my every move. Like Narcissus, my focus was limiting. I was so concerned with how others saw me, that I missed most of what was going on around me.
Self-knowledge is a good thing, but self-consciousness can be crippling. It can spawn crippling fear, shyness, and aggression. Most of all, it tends to make us judgmental and negative toward ourselves. Love frees us from all this.
The best cure for self-consciousness is love. When we focus on those around us, we have less time to focus on ourselves. We stop watching our own life through a camera. As we get to know others, their needs, and the power of grace, we tend to be more gracious toward ourselves. Love is able to see other people's imperfections through the eyes of God's grace. As we understand how necessary and healing God's grace is to others, we have a better perspective from which to see God's love and grace towards us.
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