A Posture of Humility

Though God can and does miraculously heal people, both physically and spiritually, we shouldn't live our lives waiting passively for God to reach down and touch us. There are things we can do, postures of the heart that we can adopt-that will help open our lives to the mysterious work of God, like soil being softened and fertilized for a seed.

The first of these postures is humility. Life has ground me down and, on more than a few occasions, worn me out. But I've been ground down in a good way, for the most part, and worn out like the Velveteen Rabbit; the kind of wear and tear that comes from helping others and attempting to alleviate suffering. Along the way, I've learned some important lessons, the kind that are usually learned the hard way.

The most humbling lesson I've learned is that my enemies and adversaries are not always wrong. Over the years, I've learned to become a better listener; I've become more open to taking seriously the thoughts and ideas and points of view of others, particularly those with whom I disagree. Wisdom has taught me that there is often no relationship between how strongly I feel about something and how right I am. In truth, I can feel very strongly about some thing and be completely wrong.

The second most humbling lesson is that, as formidable as my enemies and adversaries can be, I (like most people) have been my own worst enemy. My ego can be so sensitive that I have difficulty accepting that I've done anything wrong. I tend to quickly reframe the situation to put myself in the best possible light, because my ego cannot easily bear the idea that an "error in judgment" was made much less that it caused other people pain. Like me, many people prefer to deny their guilt in harming others or themselves, choosing instead to shrug it off or pretend it didn't happen. However, an encounter with truth leaves us humbled by the fact that we have no one to blame but ourselves for the decisions we've made. A lie, on the other hand, often traps us in denial and blame.

The Potter has had his way with the clay of my life, fashioning for himself a servant that is, perhaps at long last, a vessel worth using. Before I came to faith in Jesus Christ, I was largely unaware or unconcerned about my personal behavior and its effect on other people. Over time, though, God has opened my eyes and allowed me to know myself better, enabling me to more accurately see my strengths and weaknesses.

I have been humbled in two ways by this new insight: First, I now see that I do not fully use my strengths; and second, my weaknesses remain. In sum, I am human and have learned to accept the inescapable reality that much of life is about accepting the limitations of my humanity.