Ava sprained her wrist this week. At first, it looked as if it might be a broken wrist, but of course, we couldn’t see inside the wrist to know what was going on. We needed experts.
We had to trust others with the diagnosis and the prognosis. As Donia went through the Urgent Care rigamarole, she was thrust before techs, nurses and doctors who each had power over her and Ava because of their advanced training.
I can’t speak to what Donia experienced in those moments, but I know what I feel when I am powerless to control my situation because I MUST trust the expert: I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit. As I have wandered around stores looking for items and not asking a sales rep for help, have become impatient with nurses recording my weight (when I obviously had strep throat and just needed antibiotics) or when I have felt my hackles rising when being “bossed around” by a parking attendant, I have experienced the root of all sin: pride.
Ick. I don’t like to admit it. I’d much rather write a devotional like yesterday’s—reporting how I figured something out. But, alas, it would be disingenuous for me to write as an expert when I too am but a novice apprentice seeking to follow Jesus.
And Jesus says,
5 Flourishing are the humble because they will inherit the world.
Matthew 5:5
We will flourish when we are humble. Our world says the opposite. Loud voices clamor for attention and for their way to be known and heard. Put together, smart people are celebrated while the meek, the mild, and the unimpressive are overlooked at best and despised at worst.
Humility is the posture of those who are obviously under-informed (think of Donia with techs, doctors and nurses), but clear that they are to follow the expert. For us, as Jesus followers, our growth in humility will be exponential when we 1) recall that we know very little (relative to God’s Word and the wisdom of the Church) and 2) are resolved to quickly obey even if we don’t understand.
This is how we flourish: trust and obey—for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to TRUST and OBEY .
Prayer
Write out a prayer confessing to God the areas of pride or stubbornness in your life.