On Humbleness

Following my thoughts on Ezekiel, I started pondering humility, or humbleness. Remembering the gospel: For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  

As I engage in ministry with others, it seems that so many people I encounter who are burned out appear to be so are because the word "humble" fell out of use in their life and spirituality.  Because, if we are honest with ourselves, engaging the Word and the sacraments is a humbling enterprise. Walking with people in their vulnerable times is humbling. Realizing that God and a community of believers have called you to be a disciple among them is humbling.  

And, in that humbleness there is a joy, a joy that keeps one alive, dedicated, attuned, and attentive. If I had to strive for one word in my spirituality, besides that of love, it would be humbleness. So, I did some digging, a word study on humbleness and gleaned the following suggestions:

                              

Thank Others

Make sure you take every opportunity you have to thank others for what they do and what they help you with. People don’t accomplish anything on their own and it always takes help from others. Thank them for this help. Whether its your boss, spouse, friends, or stranger, thank others for whatever you can. Being humble in other’s eyes means you don’t claim your own accomplishments, and instead, thank others for how they helped, what they did, how they encouraged or supported you, etc. 

Redirect Praise

Redirecting praise is useful to be more humble and modest. If you don’t accept praise outright and instead, redirect it to others who helped you, trained you or even allowed you to do something, you pass on that praise to others without taking the credit directly. 

You Don’t Have to Be Right

A humble person never tries to outdo someone else and make themselves look better or smarter. This includes having to be right. When you try to prove you are right, or even when you say something simple like "I know" you are showing dominance over the other person. Instead of wanting to be right, even if you know something already, simple say, "Interesting, thanks for that." 

It Wasn’t You Who Got You Here

People are constantly striving for success and they often feel very proud of themselves for getting to where they are at. Humble people are not proud and know that they didn’t get themselves here. They know that others helped them, encouraged them and assisted them to get to where they are now.  

Don’t Be First

First is not necessarily a bad thing, however being first can come across as competitive, self promoting or demoting of others. None of those things are common for a humble person. In a group or workplace, if you don’t be first to speak, participate or get involved, you give others a chance to be first. 

Appreciate Everything

So many things around us are not our doing, we often forget to see our own insignificance since we get so focused on our own lives and accomplishments. Well to be humble, its importance to recognize and appreciate all the wonderful things around us. Appreciate the place you live, the health, wealth and happiness you experience or have opportunity for. Appreciating things adds greatly to a person’s humility and knowing that we have so much to be thankful for builds on many of the other items in this list. 

Listen More Than You Speak

Similar to the item above, "Don’t Be First" it applies to listening in a more broad sense. Listening more than you speak can be very powerful and if you use this you can learn many things about others and practice humility in how you respond. It gives you time to think and provides time for others to share their own opinions. Listening more can be very respectful to others, and you can learn a lot more by listening to others than you can by speaking.

Don’t Judge Others

Last but not least, a very important aspect of being humble is to not judge others. Judgment is a dangerous thing and you can’t stay open minded, receptive to ideas, empathetic or appreciative of others if you are judging them or their ideas. 

A prayer from Walter Brueggemann:

Healing, sovereign God,

overmatch our resistant ears

with your transforming speech.

Penetrate our jadedness and fatigue.

Touch our yearnings by your words.

Through your out-loudness, draw us closer to you.

We are ready to listen.

Amen.