Humble Pie

Humility is a difficult subject at best we mostly associate humility with humiliation or being humble as being less than. I have come to the understanding that its not about thinking less of yourself, its about thinking of yourself less. For when we are in the service of our fellows are we not in the service of our God, and when we are in that service are we not divorced from self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity and in that moment is that not when we make our conscious contact with our creator who lives from moment to moment, eternity to eternity life everlasting. The magic word in Alcoholics Anonymous Action, and more Action, for faith without works is dead.

I would speak to you of an unlikely teacher who taught me the meaning of humility.

A good man who spoke in a church conference about when he was in high school he pleaded with God that he would be a humble man.If you would ask any one in the church who had the most humility, surely it would be him and of this there would be a consensus of no doubt.On a late Sunday afternoon I was waitingin my church hall way when my unlikely teacher appeared and we quickly engaged in conversation. What struck me as odd as he kept his distance; he stayed eight to ten feet away, his body language was most loud and trumpeted disdain. I told him I was working on a post that described emotional and sexual addiction, and started to explain the physiology of the hypothalamus and the phenomenon of peptides and receptor cells. He quickly put up his hands and said I know none of these things and quickly ended the interaction. A new member came over by me and sat down; he quickly closed the distance to say hello and how glad he was to see her. For the man I speak acted as if what he thought humility looked like. He knew that I was in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous a program beyond his scope of understanding and thus the disdain and when I attempted to teach him of something beyond his familiar comfort zone his hands went up the body language said I am not willing to learn, and I am not willing to learn from the likes of you.

When every man or women becomes your teacher, no matter whom, the wise or the fool for we all have different gifts and experiences. When we find ourselvesin a recovery meeting and the person for whom you have the greatest disdain starts to share the same thing one more time and you think you would rather set yourself on fire than to listen and to subject yourself to their inane rantthey just might be ready to reveal something painful you needed to hear, and for the very least an opportunity to practice love and tolerance has disguised it self in humility.

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Joseph