Some Humility

 

Good morning, and welcome.

 I know this is Thanksgiving week.  The thought for today doesn’t directly tie into the holiday, but there is a connection…both my wife and I had occasion to give thanks last week, as well as learn a lesson or two in humility.

 Every once in a while, something happens to remind me that humans are fallible creatures.  Yes, I know we like to think of ourselves as having it all together, able to take hold of and deal with anything that comes our way during the day.  But there are times when we are told in no uncertain terms that our capability to get through the day unscathed is just a fairy tale.  Most of the time, what happens isn’t a big deal in itself, but it often makes us think about life and how fallible…how dependent we are.

 Two recent incidents come to mind.  One happened to my wife…the other to me.  Neither was a huge deal, but we both were reminded of our humanity and the need for humility.

 Last weekend, my wife and I went to Towne West Mall to walk the public area.  It was cold outside and we need the exercise, so we went to a place that was warm.  Most malls don’t mind having “walkers” in the mall, and Towne West is no exception.  The day we were there we noticed several people doing the same thing we were doing.

 We wore our coats into the mall, but the wife shed hers when she got inside.  We walked the perimeter of the commons area, got our exercise, and went back home.  On the way out the mall door, she noticed that she didn’t have her small purse with her.  Thinking she didn’t bring it to the mall, we went home and found it wasn’t there.  We looked in the car and didn’t find it.  So we went back to the mall, hoping to find it in the parking lot.  It was not to be.

 We were becoming increasingly more nervous at the prospect of a mall patron picking up her purse and using the credit cards, identification, etc. for nefarious purposes.  So once we got into the mall, we went to the mall office, which was closed as it was a Saturday.  There was a sign on the door that said if we needed something to call security.  So we did.

 Security directed us to their office where the man asked her to describe what she lost.  She did and he said, “I think we have it here.”  He went to the back room and brought it out, intact.  He said one of the “walkers” who had been coming to the mall for years found it and turned it in.  Our stress level came down considerably upon seeing her purse.  We thanked him profusely and went on our way.

 A few days ago, I lost the keys to my pickup.  Normally, they are in my left jeans pocket, but  they weren’t there and nowhere to be found in the house or garage.  I figured that I had dropped them when I was running some errands the day before, and didn’t think much of it since I had a spare set and whoever might have found them wouldn’t know what to do with them anyway.

 I didn’t have occasion to drive the pickup for three or four days.  When I did need to use it, I got in with the spare set of keys and tried to insert the key into the ignition.  The key wouldn’t go in.  I tried a second time and got the same result.  I wondered what in the world was wrong with the key that it wouldn’t go in, so I looked down at the ignition and saw that the keys that I had “lost” were in the ignition.  I had failed to remove them a few days before, for some reason.

 Neither of these incidents resulted in a catastrophic outcome.  Both were eventually taken care of without incident.  Yet it is these kinds of things that serve to remind us of our fallibility, our need for the good will of others, and the reality that we are getting along in years and may not be quite as savvy in some areas of life as we once were.

 I usually try to end these Thursday thoughts with some kind of spiritual truth.  That truth for today?  As much as we might like to assert our independence, our capabilities, our self-care, and our lack of need, we know that at the core, we are dependent in so many ways.  In the case of the missing purse, we were dependent on the good will and honesty of people we didn’t know, both the one who found the purse and the security man who held it.  We were dependent on the mall for providing security.  And the list could go on.

 And for the missing keys, although no one else was involved in finding them or turning them in to lost and found, I realized that I did not do what I normally do…take out the keys and put them in my pocket.  Nor did I recall not doing that.  Several days passed until I found them, shall we say, accidently.  I’m still puzzled by my lack of care in handling them and wonder what else I fail to do from time to time.

 Out of a host of Biblical references on humility, one of my favorites is in Micah 6:8 where the prophet says this:  “God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

 May God bless you this holiday season.