Category: Reflections
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Love
Love, essentially, is putting another before one’s self. And inasmuch as it is about putting others first, it is inherently an act of humility, prioritizing another’s needs and desires above one’s own.
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Regret
Regret grounds humility, and humility permits regret. Regret is possible when we are willing to acknowledge that we have done wrong. Clinging to one’s unsullied goodness and pride requires refusing to grasp the impact of our decisions.
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Kenosis
Jesus challenges our propensity for associating greatness with being the most famous, the most celebrated, the most served. Kenosis refers to Jesus willingly humbling himself by relinquishing the power, majesty, and comfort of God to participate with us in the finitude, suffering, and terrible death that is common to man.
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Holiness
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness BY REV. Andrew Murray Lord Jesus! may our Holiness be perfect Humility!Let Thy perfect Humility be our Holiness! Preface There are three great motives that urge us to humility. It becomes me as a creature, as a sinner, as a saint. The first we see in the heavenly hosts, in…
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Presumption
People pay top dollar to attend gatherings with celebrities and politicians. Plebes line the entryway to get a glimpse or a selfie. Fans spend thousands for front row seats and more for VIP backstage access. We naturally want to be in the entourage, most especially the right hand man. The wise person is the humble…
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Authenticity
Faced with our inability to live up to our ideals, we have a choice if we want to be authentic. We can live in the acknowledgement that we need grace and forgiveness and keep trying to do right, or we can discard the ideal altogether.
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Ignorance
Knowledge is not impossible, but our view is certainly obstructed by our limited faculties and our proneness to motives other than “splendorous truth.” The humble person sees conversations as opportunities to learn because she is realistic about her own apprehension.
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Interdependence
Steve Jobs wrote himself an email reminding himself how many people past and present he relied upon to accomplish his work, and even to survive. Perish the thought that you are a solitary, self-made, self-sufficient man. We need others, and they need us.
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Mist
This life is short. Fleeting. It vanishes like a mist in the morning sun. That we were not the determiners of our births, nor of our fate, ought to humble us. We receive life as a gift. We may only hope for eternal life as a gift.
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Humility
Humility is a virtue characterized by modesty, selflessness, and self-awareness. A humble person does not boast, she consistently enables and elevates the gifts and contributions of others, and he understands his dependence, limitations, and imperfection.