Thursday, October 15, 2009

Life leads us to Humility



I woke up this morning extremely tired, even though I had 7 hours of good sleep. I'm sure that colored the day a little.

After the boy left for school, I watched a little of the Today Show and saw the story about a 15 year old boy who was lit on fire by 5 of his classmates - bullies. He had called the police about one of them trying to steal his dad's bike. They retaliated.

Horrible. Tragic. I cried for him and I cried for his mom. Pray for him - his name is Michael and he received burns over 80% of his body. And pray for his family. And pray for those kids who did an evil, evil thing. This is Michael.



So after I finished crying, I noticed that Noah left his lunch. On my way to go write with a friend, I dropped it off at his school. During that trip I encountered some one who was downright mean to me. Mean with a capital M. I drove on to my friend Loretta's house, mumbling. Not positive mumbles either.

As I got to Loretta's she was on the phone. I set up my computer on her dining room table as is our custom. She hung up the phone and screamed.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What's the problem, Loretta?"

"Oh, just some woman and miscommunication. But I know this is supposed to lead me to humility."

Lead me to humility. Wow.

I thought about those words and applied them to my own situation. Watching the horrible actions on TV - should that lead me to humility? I think so. God is the only answer to those boys' problems. He is the only one who can heal Michael. I thought about my own son, and I thanked God, in humility, for his safety.

I thought about the mean woman I'd encountered. Was that incident supposed to lead me to humility? Yes. I can love her back, in humility, even if she is in a bad mood or place. If I turn on the pride, which I did this morning, I just get angry and defensive. How dare she? But if I let her words lead me to humility, well then God can show me the high road.

Life's situations often lead us to humility. And humility leads us to better resemble our Father in heaven.

But I have to confess, I hope nothing else happens today that leads me to humility.
:0)

5 comments:

Loretta Oakes said...

Ditto!

Jan Parrish said...

Harsh, hard lessons. Praying for this family.

tonya said...

Great post, Robbie! One I needed to read. :)

Denise Miller Holmes said...

Good insight, Robbie.

smithsk said...

Hello Robbie -

Just read your post. I recalled the words of a godly senior citizen who said in such tough situations she prayed -"Holy Spirit, love this person for me."

Susan