Humble Again
Oh to be a child again.
He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, 'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. - Matthew 18:2-5
When Jesus advises his disciples to be childlike, he is not talking about immaturity or youthful vigor. He is talking about humility and innocence.
I don't think of humility as a trait of childhood. Innocence, yes, but humility to me is selfless and as children, don't we always want the focus to be on us? Are we not in it for ourselves?
In the first two years or so of life, we are growing out of total dependence into a sense of self. Our identity is forming, and it erupts in the "terrible twos," a time when we challenge all authority and push the limits.
I believe the child Jesus wants us to become is the child who is a little older than that, the child who heads off to school to be among others like himself, but different.
This is child who experiences humility for the first time, the child who is subject to the opinions and actions of others, the one who discovers there is a hierarchy of control and dominance in the playground and he is not on top.
As adults, I think we need to revisit that time in our lives when we were most vulnerable, when we looked up to those who had control and influence and wondered if we would ever be like that.
Jesus may want us to see ourselves that way again, so that we can have empathy for those who are in need of help, in need of comfort and support, the vulnerable among us, young and old.
Humble thyself, he tells us. Be open and aware.
It is not all about us.
It is about all of us.
So, how do we approach the day from a place of child-like humility?
I think we clear our mind of thoughts and prejudices and just be, so that each person we encounter this day will come to see us as we truly are, and not as we would like to be seen.
That's tough. Unless we become as a child again.
More to come...