And What Shall We Say of the Humble?

Humility...Humbleness...not Prideful.

In my lifetime I have met many very successful men. Men who have accomplished great things. Men who have accumulated vast amounts of wealth and power. Intelligent, powerful, accomplished, gifted, silver tongued; are all words that could be used to describe these men.

The ones who have made the greatest impression on me are the ones who have been down to earth,  regular guys. Those who have not been overly impressed by themselves. In other words, humility was part of their character. As John Ruskin put it, "I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility." I couldn't agree more.

I constantly need to remind myself that God "opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." This character trait of humility is one of the most desirable qualities a Christian, or anyone for that matter, can posses. It is one which, unhappily, I often fail to exhibit.

"Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance." Saint Augustine

In A Book of Psalms,  Steven Mitchell beautifully paraphrases the 15th Psalm in this way.

"Lord, who can be trusted with power,
    And who may act in your place?
Those with a passion for justice,
    who speak the truth from their hearts;
who have let go of selfish interests
    and grown beyond their lives;
who see the wretched as their family
    and the poor as flesh and blood.
They alone are impartial
   and worthy of people's trust.
Their compassion lights up the whole earth,
   and their kindness endures forever."

I want to be that kind of man. A man who can be trusted with power, who has a passion for justice and has let go of selfish interest. From the very bottom of my heart, that's who I want to be.