Ego Building

"Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.' The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men had built... The Lord scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the speech of all the world. It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth." (Genesis 11.4-5,8-9)

"He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly." (Luke 1.51-52)

The Tower

He builds a tower to the sky:
With straw of self-importance laid,
And mud of ego piled high,
Baked in the spotlight of roles played.

Presuming to be the expert,
In matters that are close at hand:
His judgements swift; responses curt --
Pronounced to serfs at his command.

Biased to self, perceptions twist
The truth into a processed lore;
Grinding the facts like miller's grist --
Discarding all he can ignore.

His words, coated with saccharine,
Deigned to appease the simple ear,
Gloss over motives baked in sin --
All things are not as they appear.

The tower-builder draws conflict
Upon himself; but can he see
The wounds his words often afflict
On hearts he treats as enemy?

How often commotion ensues
As tower-builders interplay;
Communications so confuse,
That tepid hearts avoid the fray.

Can tower-builders hear and see?
Are the deaf and blind you and me?

Lord, cast my heart down from the throne of my ego, that my eyes may be opened to see Your truth and my ears be unplugged to hear You present in the least of my sisters and brothers. Amen.