Day 3592 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Romans 12:16 NIV

For only when found without humility can a humanity become so bound to misplace their sanity as our society has so sadly become in what’s become a life lived as if comparison is all that matters, and thus by how all are measured.

Simply because the trajectory holds that the haughtiness of the highbrowed and highborn will reach eventually a vanity from which they simply cannot ever further see any success inside such a low stance as the substance of their every assumption will become before them the ties that bind them to the lofty lies that blind them to believing that they’re indeed somehow better than any can be. And alas, as we have in fact arrived at such a heartbreak, seems now as if such a gift as harmony is all but an afterthought cast aside behind many.

All because many of the most have no interest in anything that doesn’t bear interest for our worth is tied to wealth, leaving us weighing more of what we’ll stand to lose should we ever dare consider this call to associate with those of no ability to regale in the tales of such luxury as homeowner’s associations and 4-day, 3-night beach vacations in the French Riviera.

For such is our regalia. It’s all a clear concern over the best interests of ourselves alone, and maybe perhaps those who manage to suck up just enough to be allowed close enough to dull our hatred of the stains we once assumed within that of their hearts beating ours to the melting into a measure of the mystery of mercy. It’s a sad thing to be always so beaten to such benevolence by another, leaves us feeling as if once again we’re left behind playing catchup in a game we have no idea how to play.

But only because for so long now we’ve been but hall-of-famers in regard to fame and fortune, blowing our blessings upon those who have plenty of their own only because we continue trying to prove ourselves better than even those this bling-blinded world have come to consider the best of the rest of all of us who leave no rest for the weary as we’re only worried about winning our share of the wealth of the mostly wicked.

Walking right on by those entirely too lowly to have any idea as to the life of the haughty as they sit inside most days afraid mostly of such things as not eating or having a roof over their heads when it rains or a warm place to go when the weather turns cold for the year. No, those are living in an entirely different gear with different gear geared in another year left to having lost more than they found.

At least when calculated by those of us with more than we need and yet somehow not much to spare.

It’s something that strikes me harder every single year, about this time mostly, but through the other months as well. It’s a realization as to the overall excess of nonsense as afforded by the affluent who are anymore only apparently fluent in both taking most things for granted and forsaking those less fortunate who’ve not the luxury of overlooking much of anything. No, there is a deepening divide between the two sides of life.

One side is sometimes called the have-nots, the rather nots, the afterthoughts, the one’s life lost to looking down on those who still walk on the ground as opposed to as if clowns chasing crowds wearing crowns and carrying crayons, just to touch up the make-up should it begin to smear as we sneer at those who cannot afford such finery as our futility. It amazes me that a place so enthralled by equality lives as if it’s altogether ignorant of equity.

But again, such bound to happen when we lose our humility.

It makes us forget such things as what it’s like to do without. Makes us confuse the gravity of life with the weight of the things we want while in it. Makes us even forget that one day we won’t be. But alas, no, for today we are and thus we’re still in it to win it, the “it” in this case being only whatever the other lonely seem to be still looking for. And we are all increasingly lonely because that’s another issue that seems all but bound to arise when our eyes become so blind by what are wants that we’ve never once needed.

Causes us to start cutting off those who are trying and vying for the time and attention that we’re needing for our intentions of securing our safety as assumed inside success only.

Which I contend is what makes the rich and wealthy the poorest of us all.

Because none can see how good we’ve really got it while so focused on what more they feel they still need to get. Yes, it’s truly as if most of those here don’t get it at all. The “it” in that case being that it's not those rich enough to think they deserve more who'll find themselves ready to empty their pockets in order to fill their eternity. No, but rather blessed are those whose only hope is the better He's offered.

For they're the only ones who’ll find it.

And too, when seen from an altogether simple study of the different and entirely diverging sides of our society, it’s also only they who know what it is to live in harmony. Indeed, I’ve seen so many videos and stories of those considered lowly who are the very first to share with those around them. In fact I’m here reminded of the widow’s mite as recounted in passages like Luke 21:1-4. Verse four being especially applicable for today’s discussion.

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’”

It’s such a profound lesson on faith and how it has so little to do with what we here assume matters most. For to most, those two tiny coins meant nothing, perhaps to some even as much as our pennies mean to us today. I mean there was a time when I think most of us would stop in our tracks to pick up a penny we found lying on the ground. But anymore it’s as if we’re too busy to stop for anything less than a twenty.

Yet another impact of inflation maybe?

Anyway.

Well, no actually, even inflation might play a role in our plight of pride and progress away from harmony as known best among the lowly among humanity. For inflation makes things seem to be worth more as we’ve to pay more for what we buy in the store. Been to the store lately? Just got done on our morning run in fact, and whew, it’s looking rough on the budget these days! But is it? Is our budget the burden it’s become because it was supposed to be this way?

Or are we rather forgetting the lessons from those blessings the likes of the story of the widow’s mites?

Unfortunately yes, I sadly think we are. Because anymore we are increasingly impressed with those well-dressed as we assume them to have found the success that we surmise is what matters most in life as it seems to make a life a little easier to live. But what is hard about any of this? Or are we just really good at making it all hard on ourselves, and maybe then harder on others as well?

Because as we grow more impressed with those loving worldly success, we too grow more distant from those more destitute as our time and attention is given unto trying to glean from those who’ve gained what we crave, leaving us less to give to those who’ve nothing we want. For we don’t want to be poor, to be pitiable and pathetic, to be those without any reason for any pride in themselves.

For that’s what life is all about.

Indeed, seems that anymore life is about consorting with known-felons should they afford us a secret to their affluence. It’s about learning from those who’re living the kind of life we’d love to lead, spending our money and minds to buy their books and waste our time trying to glean how we might gain a way out of this forsaken rain that keep pouring upon a life so poor that we have no idea how rich we are. A fact forgotten and still forsaken simply because here faith isn’t factored into bottom lines or dollar signs.

Rather faith is a force felt by only those without the fame or fortunes to force anything at all. Yes, that’s why Christ told those listening that the widow had put in more than all those who had more to give. Because she acted out of the faith we’re called to have whilst the rich did only as they felt obligated to do. Suppose that’s also why we’re told elsewhere that God loves a cheerful giver.

Because it’s not about what we give but rather that we’ve the chance to share what we’ve been given.

That’s what this time of the year is supposed to be about. Alas, anymore it’s more about flashing lights and waiting lines in the self-checkout lanes where every bag seems only to break and everyone knows only to freak as time runs out and the days turn short and the money’s all spent and the family’s on the way and the kids are sick and the neighbors are loud and the parking lots are full and gifts still need to be bought and we just ran out of wrapping paper and we’re even down to using pieces torn from an old notebook we found to play the role of the tags which tell people whose present is from whom.

It’s all become quite conceited, this concession of progression proving us more important than others unworthy of our time or attention. And yet maybe it’s those who’ve been mostly forgotten who haven’t forgotten what we’ve been given. For maybe life could mean more if we had less. Maybe our time would be more wisely spent if we realized we were running out of it faster than the money we can make back. Yes, perhaps the poor are the richest of all.

For maybe they’re the last ones who are still able to see the majesty of mercy as given them in something as priceless as smile still might seem.

I remember those days. Times when you could smile or nod at a neighbor and not wonder as to whether or not you looked weird. Days when there were more of those red kettles and plenty of people ringing bells to usher in not pocket change but Christmas spirit. Yes, I remember the Christmas spirit, a sense of something that reminded us that it is indeed more blessed to give than receive. I remember the moments of joy watching others opening their gifts, not because the stuff inside mattered all that much but just because reminding them that we paid attention really did.

Yes, I remember paying attention. Looking around at the world outside these prison bars of pride and purchases. Thinking about what we could do for others, not worried about what they wanted as much as what we wanted them to have. Making sure those who had less had more. Maybe doing an extra lap through the store and dropping off some cans of hope into those bins by the door. Praying for the people holding signs along the side of the road. Thanking God that He hears us when we do.

Hoping that they know we saw them even if we’re in hurry to pass by them.

Why are we afraid of it? Afraid we might catch it? What’s the worst that could happen if we did? After all, is hope the infectious disease we’ve made it out to be? And we have, haven’t we? For who has to hope in what they already have? And as those who fight every day to focus on having everything we want, what then is left for us to know in which to hope? For if we have it all, we have no hope for anything more. But if we have less, then we’ve plenty of hope left.

Seems a silly thing to be so afraid of. Maybe we can change that. Maybe we can turn things around. Maybe we can come out of our kingdoms and share some extra kindness. Maybe we can even realize are kingdoms are made of the same cardboard that some scribble messages on asking for a little help. Maybe helping is more important than having. But maybe we can only know that when we realize how much help we still need.

Because we all need help. Because we all mess up. Because none of us are perfect. Because money doesn’t matter. Because Heaven doesn’t sell tickets. Because if we could buy His forgiveness then we’d really be in trouble!

No, seems to me that we’re all in enough trouble as it is. Because we’ve forgotten what poverty is. We’ve forgotten what prosperity is. We’ve forgotten them both so much that we’ve gotten them backwards. That’s kind of what we talked about yesterday in how it’s those poor in spirit who are blessed as opposed to the wicked we want to be like. For money remains the root of all evil, and yet humility is the anchor for our every hope.

Because only in humility can we know harmony. And only in humility can we find reason to associate with the lowly. For only in humility can we see that we are the lowly. Because only humility can see that money has absolutely no meaning as all it seems to buy is conceit and credit card debt.

Seems there ought to be more to life than that!

For in truth, and I beg you to ponder, what can pride really provide? All I’ve found while following it was a longer ride back to reality, and a rather bumpy one at that. Because pride does come before the fall, but those fallen low know only up to go. Kind of seems like another story you might have heard before. Starting from the bottom and being lifted up. In two ways actually.

Yes, “See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

It’s that very same King who was lifted up on a cross by those who had no interest in associating with the lowly as they were simply below them in every worldly way. But it’s also that very same King who was then lifted up to Heaven and seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And it’s too that very same King who offers to lift up those who can see, in humility, the gift that it still remains to live in harmony with the lowly.

For He came lowly, and friends, He calls us to follow. And so let us lower ourselves to not seeking to impress ourselves, or anyone else for that matter. For what this world finds impressive has no meaning in Heaven. But those this world find unimpressive, well they may very well be those last who He said shall be first.

So maybe it’s best to not look at the things the world looks at. Because yeah, pretty sure He said that too!

And too, it ought to be quite easy to see why the need for the humility that allows for our living in harmony with even those low and lonely. For Christ is the epitome of a life lived low and left out. And yet associating with Him now is the only way to that hope of Heaven.

Let us then be careful as to what we discount. For many then did and do still now overlook the value of His kind of humility. But that it earned our salvation only proves that humility is the only hope we have.

For without it, we will never desire the harmony we need to have with the King of the lowly.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold