From a young age, we learn that it's a dog-eat-dog world and no one rises to the top without stepping on others. But the Bible has a better way! Click or tap the link to read more.
#Christianity #Bible #Jesus #Gospel #Discipleship #Humility

http://afaithfulsower.org/2026/02/11/consider-others-more-important-than-yourself/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Between Two Caskets

A Biblical View of Ambition

I built this shop out of busted knuckles, sunrise and a second chance,
Dust on my boots, grit in my lungs, calluses like callin’ cards.
Now a black truck rolls up all shiny, with a handshake and a smile,
Says, “Boy, we love what you’re doin’… we just want it our way now.”
Numbers on a paper look like freedom, but the fine print bites like wire,
And he says it soft like a blessing, “Don’t make us your enemy, son—”
I drove off feelin’ two kinds of cold, prayin’ I could hear God clear,
‘Cause money talks, but so does fear.

And I ain’t been to church in a minute, just enough to remember the songs,
But that weight on my chest kept whisperin’, “This road can’t be the one.”

I found that little white-steeple place off a county line and grace,
Old preacher met me at the doorway like he’d been expectin’ my face.
He said, “Sit down, let me tell you ‘bout two goodbyes I prayed through this week—
One was a humble pine-box mama, with a hymn on every cheek.
Kids and grandbabies fillin’ the pews, tellin’ stories through the cry,
Faith like a quilt on everybody, love held up to testify.
She built one thing that didn’t rust—she built a family in the Lord.”
Then his eyes got sad as winter, and his voice got low and hard:

“Saw another one, finest casket money can buy,
But the room felt empty-loud… like a lie dressed up in a tie.
Folks shook hands and traded business, measured profit, checked their phones,
Wife sat stiff like she was waitin’ on the hearse to roll the stone.
He climbed so high he lost the ground, gained the world and lost his home,
Son, Babel still builds towers—‘saying ‘make us a name’—that’s how it goes.
And the devil still sells kingdoms for one bent knee, one quiet “yes,”
A shortcut ‘round the cross and thorns… but it’ll leave you hollow like the rest.”

He said, “Paul called it ambition too but hear what he meant:
Work with your hands, walk clean and steady, let your life be your argument.”
Then he opened up his worn-down Bible like a lantern in the dark:
“Worship the Lord your God… and serve Him only.” I felt it hit my heart.

Yeah, I’ve been standin’ between two caskets,
One’s full of love, one’s full of ash.
One’s got tears and laughter mingled,
One’s got suits just doin’ math.
One’s got a name carved out in mercy,
One’s got a title bought too fast.
And I hear that old preacher sayin’,
“Son, you don’t get to dodge the last.”
Yeah, you’re choosin’ with every yes and no—
You’re standin’ between two caskets.

He said, “Don’t kill the fire—just consecrate it.
Don’t stop buildin’—just watch who you’re bowin’ to.
There’s a kind of climb that’s holy,
And there’s a kind that’s built on ambition in a nice suit.
So ask God to weigh your motives,
Let humility steer your hands.
Build your business like a steward,
Build your home like the promised land.”
And he leaned in close like thunder that don’t need to raise its tone:
“Son, the world will offer power… but it can’t offer peace to take you home.”

So today I’m a standin’ by that church door, same wooden pews, same hymns,
Old preacher’s in a humble casket… and love is overflowin’ again.
There’s tears and laughter mingled,
Stories like saints tht still live.
No networkin’, no cold business,
Just a room full of “thank You” and “amen.”
And I whisper, “You were right, old man… I see it clear at last—
Every mile I ever traveled, I was choosin’ what would last.”
Yeah, I thank God I learned it early,
By the mercy of your simple ask:
“Son, you’re standin’ between two caskets…
So choose the one that’s full of love—
And let the rest turn into dust.”

A little humility leaves us open to learning. Now if only I could be less all-knowing more of the time…

https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/learning/2014/08/a-little-humility-leaves-us-open-to-learning

#humility #learning

A quotation from The Bible

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.
 
[Ὁ δὲ καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἀγάπη χαρὰ εἰρήνη, μακροθυμία χρηστότης ἀγαθωσύνη, πίστις πραΰτης ἐγκράτεια· κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος.]

The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Galatians 5: 22-23 [CEB (2011)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/bible-nt/81955/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bible #newtestament #galatians #Christianity #faithfulness #gentleness #goodness #HolySpirit #humility #joy #kindness #love #patience #peace #selfcontrol #trust #virtue

I am but one member of a vast team made up of many organizations, officials, thousands of scientists, and millions of farmers -- mostly small and humble -- who for many years have been fighting a quiet, oftentimes losing war on the food production front.
-- Norman Borlaug

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #NormanBorlaug #Food #Humility

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Panopainting #Protest #MarchForOurLives #Florida

8 social skills you can master that can make you more employable, according to experts

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/8-social-skills-that-will-make-you-more-employable-according-to-psychologists

A quotation from Hyman Rickover

Sit down before fact with an open mind. Be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you learn nothing. Don’t push out figures when the facts are going in the opposite direction.

Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) American naval engineer, submariner, US Navy Admiral
Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California

More about this quote: wist.info/rickover-hyman/81936…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #rickover #hymanrickover #acceptance #facts #learning #preconceptions #project #projectmanagement #reality #research #truth #R&D #honesty #humility #integrity

I saw a #StatusCoup vid with a former #MAGA Trump voter being interviewed on the street, at a #FuckICE protest in #Minneapolis #Minnesota. He demonstrated genuine #humility , #repentance & #regret. People like that - I can forgive because everyone makes mistakes. It's how people choose to deal with their mistakes that builds up or tears down their own personal character.

I've always been open to #forgiveness when humility, repentance & making better, more humane, personal choices, going forward - are demonstrated. I'm only a hardliner with forgiveness when none of the above-mentioned actions are taken.

The Disciplines of a Godly Man: A Transformative Journey Through R. Kent Hughes’ Timeless Classic
In an age of “life hacks” and instant gratification, the concept of discipline often feels like a relic of a bygone era. Yet, for the Christian man, discipline is not a burden; it is the path to freedom. R. Kent Hughes’ seminal work, Disciplines of a Godly Man, stands as a modern classic,... More details… https://spiritualkhazaana.com/disciplines-of-a-godly-man-timeless-classic/
#disciplinesofagodlyman #godliness #surrender #humility #wordofgod

The competency trap: just because you're a great hockey player doesn't mean you're a good basketball player.

The fundamentals are different, and ego control is everything.

#selfawareness #psychology #humility #careers

The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s readings

Today’s readings give us a little instruction on the virtue of humility. Humility is the virtue that reminds us that God is God and we are not. That might seem pretty obvious, but I think if we’re honest, we’d all have to admit that we have trouble with humility from time to time. The deadly sin that is in opposition to humility is pride, and pride is perhaps the most common sin, and really the most serious sin. We might think of all kinds of other sins that seem worse, but pride completely destroys our relationship with God because it convinces us that we don’t need God. That was the sin of the Israelites building the golden calf in the desert, it was the sin of the Pharisees arguing with Jesus, it was even the sin of Lucifer in the first place, and it is the sin of all of us, at some level, at some times in our lives.

Pride is pretty easy to recognize when it’s blatant: it is the person boasting of their abilities or their possessions or their accomplishments or status, claiming all the glory for themselves, putting others down in the process, and never even mentioning God. But that’s not the only face of pride. Another face of pride realizes that we are in a sorry state, but doesn’t want to bother God with our problems so we try to figure them out ourselves. It never works, and so we continue to feel miserable, but we also offend God in the process. A similar face of pride looks to accomplish something important, maybe even something holy. But we go about it without immersing it in prayer and forge ahead with our own plans. Again, we often fail at those times, and we certainly offend God.

The only antidote to pride is the virtue of humility. Humility is the way of living that accepts the difficulties and challenges of life as an opportunity to let God work in us. It is the state of being that admits that everything we are and everything we have is a gift from God, and spurs us to profound and reverential gratitude for the outpouring of grace that gets us through every day and brings us to deeper friendship with God.

So today we hear the very familiar Beatitudes. I know that when I was learning about the Beatitudes as a child, they were held up as some kind of Christian answer to the Ten Commandments. I don’t think that’s particularly valid. One might say, however, that the Ten Commandments are a basic rule of life and the Beatitudes take us still deeper.

I also remember thinking, when I was learning about the Beatitudes, that these seemed like kind of a weak way to live life. I mean, who can live up to all these things anyway? And who would want to? Do you know anyone who would actively seek to be poor, meek or mourning? And who wants to be a peacemaker? Those people have more than their share of grief.

So I think when we hear the Beatitudes today, we need to hear them a little differently. We need to hear them as consolation and encouragement on the journey. Because at some point or another, we will all be called upon to be poor, meek and mourning. That’s just life. And the disciple has to be a peacemaker and seek righteousness. We will have grief in this lifetime – Jesus tells us that in another place. So what Jesus is saying here, is that those of us undergoing these sorts of trials and still seeking to be righteous people through our sufferings are blessed, even happy.

So does anyone really believe that? I mean, it’s quite a leap of faith to engage our sufferings and still be sane, let alone happy. The ability to see these Beatitudes as true blessings seems like too much to ask. And yet, that’s what we disciples are being asked to do.

I think a good part of the reason why this kind of thinking is hard for us, is that it’s completely counter-cultural. Our society wants us to be happy, pain-free and without a concern in the world. That’s the message we get from commercials that sell us the latest in drugs to combat everything from indigestion to cancer – complete with a horrifying list of side-effects. That’s the message we get from the self-help books out there and the late-night infomercials promising that we can get rich quick, rid our homes of every kind of stain or vermin, or lose all the weight you want in just minutes a day. That’s the message we get from Oprah, Dr. Phil, and Joel Osteen and their ilk, who encourage us never to be second to anyone and to do everything possible to put ourselves first. If this is the kind of message we get every time we turn on a television, or surf the internet, who on earth would want to be poor in spirit? Who would want to be meek? Who would even think to hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Now this is an important point: Pride is just the way we live, culturally speaking. We are always right, and if we’re not, we certainly have a right to be wrong. We can accomplish anything we set out to do, and if we fail, it was someone else’s fault. We don’t need anyone’s help to live our lives, but when we’re in need, it’s because everyone has abandoned us. We are culturally conditioned to be deeply prideful people, and it is absolutely ruining our spiritual lives.

Jesus is the One who had the most right of anyone to be prideful. He is God, for heaven’s sake – I mean, he really could do anything he wanted without anyone’s help. But he chose to abandon that way of living so that we could learn how to live more perfect lives. He abandoned his pride and in humility took on the worst kind of death and the deepest of humiliation.

So what if we started to think the way Jesus does? What would happen if we suddenly decided it wasn’t all about us? What would happen if we decided that the utmost priority in life was not merely taking care of ourselves, but instead taking care of others, trusting that in that way, everyone – including ourselves – would be taken care of? What would happen if we were not completely consumed with ourselves and so did not miss the opportunity to come to know others and grow closer to our Lord? That would indeed be a day of great rejoicing and gladness, I can assure you that.

And I’m not saying you shouldn’t take care of yourself. We all need to do that to some extent, and maybe sometimes we don’t do that as well as we should. But when we consume ourselves with ourselves, nothing good can come from it. Maybe this is a kind of balance that we could spend these weeks leading up to Lent striving to achieve.

Today’s Liturgy of the Word calls us to a kind of humility that remembers that God is God and we are not. It is the only real antidote to the destructive, deadly sin of pride that consumes our society and us on a daily basis. This isn’t some kind of false humility that says we are good for nothing, because God never made anything that was good for nothing. Instead, it is a humility that reminds us that what is best in us is what God has given us. As St. Paul says today, “God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.” If we would remember that everything that we have and everything we are is a gift to us, if we would remember that it is up to us to care for one another, if we would remember that being consumed with ourselves only makes us feel worse than ever, if we would but humble ourselves and let God give us everything that we really need, we would never be in want. Blessed, happy are we; rejoice and be glad!

We are all Donald Rumsfeld. His infamous remark about "unknown unknowns" contains lessons about hubris and humility.

https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/life-lessons/2023/06/donald-rumsfeld

#RumsfeldMatrix #TacitKnowledge #humility #hubris

Discover the moving moment when Mary anointed Jesus' feet. A story of humility, love, and true devotion. #BibleStories #Faith #Inspiration #Devotion #Jesus #Mary #Humility

Verse of the Day: Humility - Mark 9:35
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
#humility

The Last Days Of Pompeii, James Hamilton

Seems like maybe the last hours of Pompeii. The organization of this is so good. Love the dirty chaotic feel of it, but especially the column with statue, maybe a saint or philosopher or something, backlit by the explosion of the mountain.

#art #volcano #rising #impending #coming #erupting #humility #power #destruction #doom #closure #shutDown

Verse of the Day: Wisdom - Proverbs 28:26
Those who trust in themselves are fools,
but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.
#wisdom #humility

A quotation from Marcus Aurelius

Do not forget you are like the rest of the world, and faulty yourself in a great many instances: that though you may forbear from some errors, it is not for want of inclination, and that nothing but cowardice, vanity, or some such base principle hinders you from sinning.
 
[καὶ αὐτὸς πολλὰ ἁμαρτάνεις καὶ ἄλλος τοιοῦτος εἷ: καὶ εἴ τινων δὲ ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπέχῃ, ἀλλὰ τήν γε ἕξιν ἐποιστικὴν ἔχεις, εἰ καὶ διὰ δειλίαν ἢ δοξοκοπίαν ἢ τοιοῦτό τι κακὸν ἀπέχῃ τῶν ὁμοίων ἁμαρτημάτων.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/marcus-aureleus/8169…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marcusaurelius #marcusaureliusmeditations #humility #humbleness #error, fear #motivation #selfawareness #selfevaluation #selfrestraint #shame #sinfulness

An Incredible Honor: Rihanna Has Renamed Herself After A Sandwich At Her Favorite Deli

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://clickhole.com/an-incredible-honor-rihanna-has-renamed-herself-after-a-sandwich-at-her-favorite-deli/