Friday, April 16, 2010

Classically Raw, Unbridled Humility

TRY THIS FOR AN EXAMPLE AMONG MANY: a soon-to-be husband stands at the front of the church, the place is suddenly hushed and the music starts. Everyone’s eyes fleet from the groom to the entering bride’s maids. (Times like these—with so many things to see simultaneously—there are always insufficient eyes to see with.) As the young bride’s maids glide to the front, the bride and her father suddenly appear. As they saunter down the aisle, one look back confirms the very essence of humility in that young man at front.

I want to take you deeper into the vision of this young man.

He, though he is young, is held in such high regard by his peers. He’s popular, but for all the right reasons. He considers others and he gives others himself, not some inauthentic version of himself.

As he stands there, you detect the slightest quiver of the chin, a slight shifting of the face; he is awed by the occasion of the sight of this, his gorgeous bride—the vision of her and the momentousness of this time’s instant sweep reality away. For this few seconds he’s reached heaven, but not some numbly dreamy and blissful place of the mind, but the very state of awe one must feel in the mighty Presence of God.

This is the very spirit of humility because the young man sees all of the truth of significance and significance of truth in this one moment. He stands before God and humanity on this historic occasion and he sees it truly for what it is—an occasion where the only just response is awe. Nothing else would cut it.

And we don’t just need to be standing at our wedding day altar’s to experience the humility this young man experienced.

All our moments are awe-some. All of them are filled with God’s Presence.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.

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