Humility is the ability to wait my turn to speak during a heated discussion, to be at peace when others surpass me in talents and accomplishments, realizing that all good things come from God, to listen with a spirit of objectivity rather than an 'I know it all' attitude, to be content with what I am, but confident that His grace can make me better, to be obedient to those in authority without resentment, to be available to everyone at all times knowing He will make up for what I lack, the desire to please rather than be pleased, and most of all, humility is to believe His revelations, hope in His Word, and love Him more than myself.

Humility prevents me from taking things personally and this frees me
from misunderstandings and heartaches.

Humility is that quality most pleasing to God because it faces truth with love and peace. The truth being in this case that everything I am and have comes from God, and I look to Him alone for a constant influx of goodness and love.

A poor man may have little, but if he possesses faith and trust he can survive on that little and be free to love God and his neighbor and enjoy all things God has given him in nature, in his family, and in the world. He has no-one to envy him, persecute him, or covet his goods. He is free to concentrate on the spiritual riches that last. Those riches he can possess in abundance.

But if a poor man is hateful of those who have more than he, or wishes in his heart only one thing -money- if this occupies his mind, makes him bitter and pretentious, then his is rich in his heart and destitute in reality.

As I contemplate these possibilities, I realize that neither riches nor poverty are in themselves of any consequence.

My heart will be where my treasure is, and that must be in God. Rich or poor, I must have a responsible detachment, and know that whether I possess great riches or give all to the poor, without God and His Love it would be nothing.

If the worldly things that God in His Goodness gives to me, possess me, control me, and make me proud and arrogant, then how can He trust me with the great gifts of soul?

If I fall beneath the weight of a splinter, how can I carry a beam?

If I am satisfied with only the things I can see, feel, hear, and touch, then how can He give me the vision to see the unseen?

It seems that the matter of forgiveness is clear; God expects me to
forgive in my words, in my heart, and in my deeds.