The Death of Humility. The Rise of Pride and Prejudice

“The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatest greatness is.”

- Phillip Brooks

Sunday's sermon gave me a lot to think about. Am I a humble person? That was the question Gary Barkalow posed, and it stopped me in my tracks. 

I wanted to say, "Yes, and there's a lot of people who need a healthy does of it." Perhaps you see the problem. 

I'll let Gary's words stand on their own. Perhaps they will speak to you as they did to me. 

Thoughts on humility: 

1. The truly humble are slow to judge. (humble people still judge, or evaluate, or discern...but they don't rush to judgement).
2. Humility enables us to see another person's failure, and still loves that person.
3. Humble people are self-aware, not self-centered.
4. Humility is heart-focused. The opposite of humility is pride, which is behavior focused. 
5. Humility is gentle and patient, but NOT passive. Pride is harsh and demanding. The humble have the courage and conviction to have the hard conversations, but they operate from a place of love, not condemnation.  
6. Humble people are honest about their accomplishments, abilities, and self-worth.  Pride-full people exaggerate who they are and what they do.  
7. Humble people receive love and praise. Pride-full people demand it. 
8. Humility is about understanding yourself, and then giving yourself to others. 

I'll add one more, and I believe Gary would concur. Humility is about finding clarity in every situation. Clarity is the product of considering the opinions of others, and of living in the tension of disagreement. Clarity should always trump agreement. 

The Twitterverse (all of social media, really) is ablaze with hubris. Gary's correct. What the human race desperately needs, right now, myself included, is a massive dose of humility.