Humble Pie

And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.  Matthew 23:12

There is nothing like a big ‘ole slice of humble pie every now and again to remind us who is really in charge!  Tuesday was the start of a new year at St. Mary’s school and like always, the first grade rooms are full of life, energy, laughter and occasionally a big, fresh slice of humble pie for those who think they are the boss!

 In our building, we have a great principal!  He is a faith-filled, gentle leader who is a joy to be around.  He’s a very tall man and his stature can sometimes cause the first graders to look up in awe! He is definitely a person you notice when he walks down the hall.  But, even the principal is sometimes served some humble pie. That’s exactly what happened when one of our first grader was asked to take something to the office.  He walked through the office door expecting to visit with Melanie or Sue the “Angels of the Office”.  Unfortunately they were both on a mission so the principal asked if he could help him. The little guy looked up at the principal shaking his head and said, “No thanks, I need to talk to somebody who works here!”  The event gave us all a great laugh but the simplicity of the story has a pretty steep meaning when you give it a bit of thought. 

As I was thinking about the story, I began to wonder how many times during a struggle or challenge do we talk the issue over with friends, family or maybe even the poor lady stuck between us and the next cart in the check-out line at the grocery store.  How often do we use human logic and reason instead of taking our concern straight to the boss?  It’s usually just about the
time I start feeling wise that everything goes hay-wire! I recently offered what I thought was great and wise advice to a teenager.  I usually ask a quick blessing on my words from the Holy Spirit before I have this kind of discussion but this particular day I thought, “naww…I got this one”.  At the conclusion of my sage counsel, the young lady looked me right in the eyes and said, “Are you serious…there’s no way, that’s ever gonna work!”  Ouch! 
I then suggested maybe she should pray about it for a bit and see what
happened.  A few days later she thanked me…for reminding her that God was the one she should have gone to first instead of me.  Humble pie lovingly served! I’ve decided if I don’t “talk to the boss” every time life gets a
wrinkle in it, then I’d better start carrying a BIG fork to eat my humble pie with!
 
A seed to plant: In order to be sure we don’t exalt ourselves, do some acts of personal humbling.  You might start by allowing someone to move ahead of you in line or leave the last cookie on the plate.  It’s much easier on the soul to humble ourselves than to have someone else do it for us!

Blessings on your day!