Ever So Humble part 2
Humbleness of mind is another way of saying "humiliation of mind." And that's what I want to talk about today. Because there are times in our lives when acting like a fool in love is the absolute best thing we can do. Humiliating ourselves in order to help someone else is, admittedly, a hard thing to do. But its a pretty awesome display of love. Look at John 13:4-5, "He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, down on His hands and knees washing the dirt off His disciples' feet. Humiliating Himself for their benefit. Because He didn't care what He looked like. He simply wanted His disciples to be clean. Its like we've somehow created this awful sense of entitlement. We think the world owes us. And its ironic that we HAVE been given everything we could ever need by our heavenly Father, but I digress. We seem to think we don't ever have to do anything. Guys... rest is not inactivity. You can't be a Spiritual couch potato and think you're operating from a place of rest. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit only directs us to do one thing: Love. Just like God only has one Word: Jesus. Love. And, yes, love comes in many forms. People love in different ways and people receive love in different ways. That's why we're looking at some of the different aspects of love. Its important that we follow that old Golden Rule and treat others the way we want to be treated. And I don't mean do something to them that you wish they'd do to you. That's a receipe for disaster. I mean, if you want to be loved... love. Pretty simple. Be kind. Be merciful. Be humble. Don't think you're better than anyone else. Don't think helping people--in they way they need to be helped, not necessarily in the way you want to help them--is beneath you. Don't look down on people. If someone's down, reach down and help them up. Give people a chance. Put them in a position to succeed. Even if it means you have to do a little scrubbing. Even if it takes a little elbow grease. I think, most of the time, you get what you pay for. Good things take time, and they take maximum effort. Love is the most effort you can put into something. Because love is giving everything you have and everything you are. Love is being willing to act a fool. To get down on your hands and knees. To humiliate yourself. And I think a lot of times laughter is the best medicine. If you can make someone laugh... there's this kid at my job, and sometimes he gets really upset. So what I do is I trick him into being happy. By doing big, giant, elaborate fake sneezes. Or pretending that the water from the drinking fountain is so cold that it makes me shiver. Anything I can do to literally turn that frown upside down. And then, when he's not mad anymore, we can continue on with what we were supposed to be doing. And I know I look foolish when I'm clowning for him, but I sure don't care. Because I love him. And I want to help him. I'm not too good, or too cool, or too high and mighty to do what needs to be done. In fact, that's one of my mottos: You gotta do what you gotta do. Even if its humiliating. Because that's called being humble. That's called love!