In nearly every conversation, one word tends to dominate: “I.”
“I think… I feel… I need… I want…”
It slips off the tongue so easily, it goes unnoticed — like background noise.
But what if that noise is drowning out something more important?
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
Not celebrate himself.
Not promote himself.
Deny himself.
That’s a hard ask in a world obsessed with identity, platforms, and personal stories. But the truth is, the more we center ourselves, the harder it is to truly see others — their pain, their needs, their humanity.
Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist, once said:
“For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue… as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself.”
Frankl taught that healing and meaning are found not by asking, “What do I want from life?” but by asking, “What is life asking of me?”
He believed our deepest fulfillment comes when we stop chasing self-satisfaction and begin living in service to others — to a purpose beyond ourselves.
The ego always says, “What about me?”
But the Spirit whispers, “What about them?”
The ego fights to be heard.
The Spirit chooses to listen.
When we remove “I” from the center, we make space — space for God to move, space for others to be loved, space for peace to grow.
We begin to speak less in the language of self and more in the language of service.
Less in the language of ego, and more in the language of others.
Less in the language of me, and more in the language of we.
Let this be our prayer:
Lord, remove the language of self from my lips, and replace it with the language of love. Let my focus shift from me to You — and from You, to them.
