A forgotten virtue?

Why humility?

1. Humility makes us more likeable. It's that character trait that makes us more flexible and adaptable to the personalities of others, and allows them to adapt to us. Pride insists that everyone be like me, think like me and adapt to me. Pride breeds an exclusivity. Unknowingly, pride begins to exclude others from its 'world' because they may differ from it. Hurting and insecure people tend to do this with great emphasis. Groups, too, can become ingrown, but really it is a form of pride and lacks humility. Pride will tend to be unaccepting of the differences of others.
   
2. Humility makes it easier to work with others. Humble people don't try and force their will off on others. They don't impose themselves on the will of others. They don't try and force their ideas and opinions off on others. They don't try and force strong-minded people to accept their ideas and opinions.
   
3. Humility makes us more teachable. Humble people are willing to listen to the views of others and learn from those that may know more than them. Its pride that says we don't need others and that we know it all and cannot be taught. How about the person we think knows nothing or is not an expert in our field? Is it possible someone else can teach me something I haven't learned yet? Is it possible my opinion may not be the in the right perspective? Personally, I believe that our filters of discernment are sometimes discolored and motivated by a sense of pride, and therefore give us dogmatic approach to our own opinion and belief of issues. Humility means I can change, I can adapt.
4. Humility is a confidence in the identity of who I am and Whose I am. Humble people are confident, not arrogant. They don't need to 'display' themselves. When we know who we are and who we are in Christ, we don't need to 'destroy' everything that is a threat to us. We are not threatened by that which is different to us or holds a different view to us, or may be stronger than us. Insecurity is a form of pride. It manifests as 'humility' but is really a pseudo form. Insecurity fears its 'position' or 'place' is threatened and therefore could lose it and be embarrassed. Embarrassment is the result of an anticipated loss of honor and dignity. But when you are confident in who you are, your sense of dignity and honor is not found in 'positions' and 'praises', but in a deep knowing, regardless of where you are found.
   

In a world where push, demand, bite, devour, self-exaltation, win-at-any-cost is applauded and valued, we need a new rethink of this forgotten characteristic and virtue: HUMILITY.

Self-discipline

A satisfied life comes from meeting your most important objectives. And that means doing what needs to be done, without wasting time or energy worrying about whether or not you feel like it. As the Nike slogan insists, "Just do it."

"When we develop the habit of plunging in without whining, complaining or procrastinating, we are on our way to genuine freedom," observes author Laurence G. Boldt. "We may not want to face it in such stark terms, but the choice is self-discipline or dependency; boss yourself or be bossed."

Are We Really Trying? Excerpt from The Gift of Change: By Marianne Williamson

Everyone I know wants the world to change. All of us want to be part of the solution. We find the thought of the complete revolution of human values a very attractive idea. Everyone's all ready to sign up. Let's go!

But wait. You start to hear a few little complaints. "Can we do this when 'The West Wing' isn't on?" "Could I sign up for a slot between two and four on Saturday, when the kids are at soccer?" "Couldn't we meet in a nicer place?" We're the only generation in the history of the world that wants to reinvent society over white wine and brie.

Only in America would someone expect changing the world to be convenient! Hello. Reality check: The suffragettes had no cell phones. The abolitionists had no faxes.

They did have love in their hearts, however. And so do you and I.

I asked a friend what I should speak about at a talk I was to give in his bookshop, and he said, "Speak about the challenges of living a spiritual life today -- I mean, we all try so hard!" And I thought to myself, "No, we don't!"

For whatever reason, however, we keep telling ourselves we do. We're all revisionists these days, and we're not content to just revise our past -- we even revise the present. We seem to have a magical belief that if we describe ourselves a certain way, then it must be true.

We talk about how hard it is to live a spiritual life when we're not even meditating regularly or making the deepest effort to forgive those who have hurt us. Perhaps we have spent so many years in the classroom that "student mode" has become a habit.

It's time to graduate. Enough of us know spiritual principles now; we've read the same books and listened to the same tapes. It's time to become the principles now, to embody them and demonstrate them in our daily lives. Until we do, we will not really learn them at the deepest level. They will not inform our souls or transform the world.

And if that's the case, we will go down in history as the generation that knew what we needed to know yet didn't do what we needed to do. I can't imagine how it would feel, to die with that realization.

We've subscribed to a kind of ivory tower notion of spiritual education: keep it abstract and intellectual and safe. Yet the spoils of history usually go to those willing to get dirt underneath their fingernails.

I heard a woman talking recently about her frustration with politics: "We've tried so hard, and nothing ever seems to change!" I thought she must be joking.

"Uh, no, we haven't. How many of us even vote?" I asked her. "And if we do, what does that mean -- we go to the voting booth every two or four years? Where do we get off thinking that we've tried so hard?" Are we thinking we made some supreme and noble effort to change the world, and it didn't work?! We've been so trained by thirty-minute sitcoms that if we don't get what we want in half an hour, it's like, uh-oh, we tried but failed. Too bad. It's over. Next.

Mother Teresa made a supreme and noble effort. Martin Luther King, Jr. made a supreme and noble effort. Susan B. Anthony made a supreme and noble effort. We have not made a supreme and noble effort. In fact, most of us make very little effort to change the world. But then we feel frustrated when we see that it's not changing!

Usually, when people say, "We've tried so hard!" they're not really talking about themselves. It's more like, "Well, there are other people I know who have!" It's laughable when you think about it. Perhaps we don't realize the big secret in our midst -- which isn't how little power we have to change things, but rather how much power we have that we aren't using! We're like birds who were never informed, or have forgotten, we have wings.

But a great remembering is reverberating among us, and whatever we've done or haven't done, succeeded at or failed at; whatever time we've used well or time we've wasted; we are here, we are available, we are present to the moment and up to the challenge.

All we need remember is this: if God has given us a job to do, He will provide for us the means by which to accomplish it. All we have to do is ask Him what He wants us to do and then be willing to do it.

About the Author:

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer. She has published ten books, five of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers. A popular guest on numerous television programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and Charlie Rose, Marianne Williamson has lectured professionally since 1983. In 1989, she founded Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people in the Los Angeles area. Today, Project Angel Food serves over 1,000 people daily. Ms. Williamson also co-founded the Peace Alliance. http://www.marianne.com

You are going down, man! Part 2

As we view our lives and the experiences we have been through, we can see that the hand of the Lord has been on us for our good and for our growth. Satan has used weapons against us to destroy our lives and to keep us out of the game of life, but the very weapons he has used against us are the very weapons that God will use, as we get victory over them, to deliver many caught up in the deception of darkness.

The grace the Father extends to us for our salvation and deliverance, becomes the weapon of choice to be the vessel of God's salvation and the manifestation of His revelation to others. "Be strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus", Paul told Timothy.

Becoming "skilled" in this weapon, in this grace, and letting the Spirit train your fingers for war, is essential for the ministry the Lord has for you. You see, David had to fight only one giant that day. Not the whole army. Only one champion of the enemy was necessary to be defeated. Once that enemy was taken down, the whole host, the whole horde of the Philistines collapsed and were defeated.

What is your giant that you have been "trained" to defeat?
What champion of the enemy sits as a hindrance to your victory, championing the cause of the hosts of the enemy?
What armies could be defeated if you were to defeat the one champion? What hosts could fall, because of your obedience, your training, your equipping?

Be prepared in the fields of seeming insignificant duty and responsibility. Defend the faith at times of obscurity. Face up to enemies that will try and rob your life and duty before God. These times will be the preparation you need for that time when you will be assigned to that giant, to that champion, that will bring the kingdom of God to regions and people.

We need to understand that the Lord is not calling us to 'kill' all the giants. But we are called to defeat the one he has assigned for us. The one no one else wants to tackle, or are not graced to tackle.

So, prepare well. don't be distracted and take down that enemy!