Humility is the secret of the wise. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
They always put large mirrors over the desks in hotel rooms. At least in Marriotts. And I’m in another one. Detroit. Overlooking the Detroit river. I look south and see…Canada.
After immersing in research at my computer, I glance up. See myself. Startled. I’ve been up 45 minutes. My hair is still standing up from 7 hours in bed. A reason to be humble.
Yesterday I shared the story of the man in the village who wanted the kind of riches that the wise man had who could give away a huge fortune so effortlessly.
The secret is humility.
People are nice to me. Say good things about my writing. Some are sincere. I love them. Encouragement is rewarding. Some are afraid that I may say something bad about their product, service, themselves on my business blog. So they are nice. I don’t know motivations. I just assume they are in the first group.
The danger lies in letting the compliments go to my head. Never think I am good. Keep learning. Keep praying for other people’s successes.
A friend once came up to me. “No one really wants to be humble,” he said.
I was puzzled. Then I realized that aside from the psychologically needy who feel bad about themselves, healthy people have trouble putting others ahead of themselves. That’s what humility is.
I just saw a saying from Gandhi where he talked of “reducing oneself to zero.”
I’m sure not in a psychologically unhealthy way. It’s just less of me; more of Jesus; more of others.
That’s humble. What’s so wrong with that?
Faith Venture 
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