We shall find that the deepest humility is the secret of the truest happiness, of a joy that nothing can destroy. ~Andrew Murray
On the shelves of my world, humility is often in short supply. Like the endangered Twinkie, a humble view of self gets put out of business, pushed off the market by more popular fare.
Why be humble, when instead I can be right? Why withhold judgment when I can be outraged? Why be self-aware when I can be self-satisfied?
It’s like a catchy tune we can’t stop humming.
Our side is correct, their kind are ruining things. Our way is better, they need to measure up. We own the truth, they are idiots.
No wonder we feel battered and afraid. Our hearts were designed to beat to the serene rhythm of humility, not the frenetic pace of pride.
I know about this first-hand. I’ve researched humility enough to wince at the ways it eludes me. One day an understanding friend handed me Andrew Murray’s slim volume, Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness. One of the 15 Books Than Found Me, it’s my favorite of them all.
Murray writes,
Humility is not so much a virtue along with others, but is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God and allows Him, as God, to do all.
Think about it:
- Learn to be humble, patience will grow
- Learn to be humble, kindness will bud
- Learn to be humble, courage will bloom
- Learn to be humble, faith will mature
- Learn to be humble, hope will arise
- Learn to be humble, love will flourish
But focus on self, end up with self. How much of my angst and anger stem from trying to grow my own goodness?
So, maybe empty shelves are a good place to start. With no plan to stock them, just the willingness to let God fill me with his virtues, where I have none of my own.
Hunger For Humility
Put humility on your wish list, the quality and the book. Nurture it, savor it, treasure all that’s humble and give your frantic heart a rest.
Have you experienced the serenity of humility?
9 replies on “Hunger For Humility”
Beautiful Janet! I so needed this this morn. Thank you dear friend!
Now a question that I’ve pondered since leaving this site…
Can one have true humility without God and if so, where does it settle?
Great question Laurie! Andrew Murray describes humility as “the desire to be nothing, that allows God to be all in all.” With that goal, a person becomes “something” amazing. To simply want to be nothing, period, is despair, don’t you think?
Humiliation. Yes. But! I am learning.
My holiday to do list: Get book on Humility..Hot Coffee..Warm Fireplace..Cozy blanket..Surrendered heart to learn to sing in obedience to The Lord.
It is better to want and seek to be humble than to have God bringing it with heavenly force. May I have faith full of surrender and drink it in deeply. Seek justice..Love mercy..Walk humbly. May this be my heart song to The Lord.
“Faith full of surrender and drink it in deeply.” Yes!
Since God is the source of all that is true and beautiful, including our under-construction souls, to “humous” or root ourselves in God, is to align those roots alongside the nourishing stream of God’s truth and beauty. If we are to learn love, joy, peace…then we must be humoused in God as the source of such things. Great, now I’m hungry for Indian food…
Your image wonderfully captures Murray’s thinking. I think he too was trying to help the reader appreciate the essential beauty of humility. And, being from South Africa, would have been exposed to great Indian cuisine!
Thanks, Janet! I don’t know if I’ve developed a hunger for humility, but I do find more of it in my life as the years go by. It’s easier to grasp when I see that I’m not as strong/smart/skilled/wise as I once thought I was.
Life humbles us if we let it! You wear humility well, Ed.