Matt's Muzings
Humility as Creation
An actual Associated Press article.
Linda Burnett, 23, was visiting her in-laws, and while they went to a nearby supermarket to pick up some groceries several people noticed her sitting in her car with the windows rolled up and with her eyes closed, with both hands behind the back of her head. One customer who had been at the store a while became concerned after an hour, and walked over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked very strange. He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding her brains in for over an hour. The man called the paramedics, who broke into the car because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head. When they finally got in, they found that Linda had a wad of bread dough on the back of her head. A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded from the heat, making a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, and the wad of dough hit her in the back of her head. When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains. She initially passed out, but quickly recovered and tried to hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed and came to her aid.
There are three aspects of humility that are vital to understand. Humility as: Creation, Sinner and Saint
This month I will explore humility as creation. This expression of humility is understood in our limitations and weaknesses.
HUMILITY AS CREATION
The above story highlights, rather extremely, the challenge we all face every day. We are limited, finite creatures that can make wrong assumptions with limited information and thus come to the wrong conclusions. Humility simply recognizes this and accepts it as a part of life. We are human, and we can, do, and/ or will make mistakes. I think this is one reason why God gave us a sense of humor. So we can laugh at the expressions of our own limitations.
An expression of humility in leadership is found in the area of asking questions. Most of us feel awkward when we don't know something and have to ask a question. I know I have to constantly work at asking questions. I would rather not ask a question as it reveals that I don't know something. In the back of my mind, a small voice seems to say, "Don't admit that you don't know. Don't expose yourself by asking a question". I have to constantly remind myself that I am limited and it is okay not to know. Then I have the freedom to ask any question I need too in order to gain understanding. Admitting I am limited frees me to be human, to learn and grow by asking questions and exploring things I don't comprehend.
I enjoy this short writing by R. D. Laing illustrating this area.
There is something I don't know
that I am supposed to know.
I don't know what it is I don't know,
and yet am supposed to know,
And I feel I look stupid
if I seem both not to know it
and not know what it is I don't know.
Therefore, I pretend I know it.
This is nerve-wracking
since I don't know what I must pretend to know.
Therefore I pretend to know everything.
I feel you know what I am supposed to know
but you can't tell me what it is
because you don't know that I don't know what it is.
You may know what I don't know, but not
that I don't know it, and I can't tell you.
So you will have to tell me everything .
I HATE IT WHEN I TRIP AND FALL
The simplest example of this is when someone trips and falls. The first response for all of us is that we are embarrassed. Yet, if we think about it, do we really think that our body should be able to know the exact height of every step, the grip or friction of each surface, weight distribution and muscle coordination in every possible situation? Rationally, we would all say, of course not, yet practically when we fall and are confronted with our limitations we are embarrassed. This same sense of embarrassment can be seen in almost any situation we are confronted with, when our humanity is exposed. We are embarrassed that we are finite and try to cover it up.
The challenge for all of us is that if we do not accept that we are human, translated to mean finite, limited, then the result is that it often turns to shame. We assume there is something wrong with us and there is nothing we can do about it because that is the way we were made. We can't repent of being human and when we try and become something other than human it only adds to the frustration and pain of life.
My desire for you is that you would join me in praying for humility. That it is not something to be feared, but actually a source of great strength and comfort. I want to enjoy being human.