Many human activities, good in themselves, are not good because of the motive for which they are done. For example, fasting and vigils, prayer and psalmody, acts of charity and hospitality are by nature good, but when performed for the sake of self-esteem they are not good. (Maximos the Confessor)

When I began daily meditations on the web I hoped to attract others. This motivation was partly a matter of serving others, partly the hope for dialogue, but had some significant element of what Maximos would call self-esteem.

I love singing in Church. I don't want to "perform" in the choir and I don't like being noticed for my singing. Singing has become just about as close as I get to pure praise and worship of God.

My approach to hospitality is usually overdone. There is too much projection of self, rather than serving the guest. I used to be better at it, but we are so seldom visited that hospitality requires -- or I think it requires -- self-conscious effort.

Acts of worship and acts of service -- the principal means of being in relationship with God and neighbor -- are opportunities to step outside the self, to lose the burden of self, and discover the joy of being in relationship with an other.

Since September 17, 2005 I have authored a morning meditation. In that first blog post I wrote, "We are called to praise not for the sake of God, but for our own sake. Too often we are preoccupied by worry regarding the future. Too often we are in mourning for that which is past. Too seldom do we recognize the blessing of the here and now."

I am glad only one or two others read these writings. In the silence my self is focused only on my relationship with the text and, on the best days, through the text to my relationship with God and neighbor.