|

When a word just keeps popping up…

On Sunday our class finished the last week of the Mark series that our whole church did for Lent.

We looked at the bold request of James and John, along with their mother, to be seated at the right and left of Jesus.

The focus of the sermon and lesson for this final week was the way we struggle with humility and how Jesus modeled it so well for us.

In the material research I found some quotes on humility and one of them was from Mother Teresa.

She had a list of ways we can seek to live more humbly and for fun I am including them….

“These are the few ways we can practice humility:

  • to speak as little as possible of one’s self
  • to mind one’s own business
  • not to want to manage other people’s affairs
  • to avoid curiosity
  • to accept contradictions and correction cheerfully
  • to pass over the mistakes of others
  • to accept insults and injuries
  • to accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked
  • to be kind and gentle even under provocation
  • never to stand on one’s dignity
  • to choose always the hardest”
  • From The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living by Mother Teresa

As I pondered these in preparation to teach; and then later as we looked over them together as a group, the one that perplexed me was the suggestion to avoid curiosity.

Because…well…me and google go together like P.B. and J.

Puzzling over it I decided maybe “curiosity” goes beyond just seeking a piece of information in order to learn and gain knowledge.

I headed over to the dictionary and found some meanings (see what I mean about me and being curious???? Sorry Mother T….I am a work in progress….)

I found that while the root word of curious is “inquisitive” there are also twists that are added as we see how it is defined in modern language such as what the author would be referring to.

It can move into a level of wanting to know more about others concerns than is necessary.

Think of …. nosiness.

Or desire to have ALL the information … sort of a …. know-it-all kind of person.

And I would guess that this, like all things humble, is more of a heart issue than a head thing.

This gave me ample material to ponder when lo and behold on late Sunday afternoon a commercial popped up between rounds of the Masters Tournament featuring an expensive car racing down a road with an imposing voice lauding …. yes…

“Curiosity.”

Well, I am sure we all know what I did the very next morning, right?

Yes,of course!

I googled the commercial on YouTube.

And here is the text of it…

“Curious…is an unreachable destination.  Curious…has no comfort zone. Curious…rests on no laurels. Curious…perpetually scratches at doors. Curious…picks at locks. Curious…never stops. To Curious…good enough is never enough. Curious…makes us who we are.”   *Mercedes-AMG Commercial – “Curious Is Incurable” YouTube

Ok.

Wow.

So I look back at the words of Mother Teresa about humility and I think of the example of Christ.

And then I read the words of the voice of our culture and with the first words, I find my heart gently drawing towards the Father and the words of the second making my heart race in an unhealthy manner and the choice is so easy.

So clear.

He came to offer us a peace that the world cannot offer.

Let us choose faithfully to follow His teachings even as we minister and love and move in a world where scratching at doors and picking locks and good enough is never enough is the norm.

We are set apart and different and sometimes we feel weird and out of step.

Can I encourage you all today?

THAT is a good thing <3

Be blessed. Be you. BE HIS! <3

 

 

Share and Save: