From C.S. Lewis . . .

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love–a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek–
But , self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

—

In times of great debate (family, church, politics, etc.) I’m always drawn back to the heart of The Jesus Story: sin, evil, and corruption do not exist “out there” . . . sin, evil, and corruption run right through the middle of me. I think that’s what Lewis’s poem is doing.