Being humbled

Recently I have had the opportunity of a lifetime. I've been humbled by the Lord. I do not brag about it because I did not choose it, want it, request it or desire it in any way. It happened, and I'm better for it. But it came with blood (a blister), sweat and tears.

I'm not the first, however, to face this malady.

Look at Matthew 20: 20-23 today:
20It was about that time that the mother of the Zebedee brothers came with her two sons and knelt before Jesus with a request.

21"What do you want?" Jesus asked.

She said, "Give your word that these two sons of mine will be awarded the highest places of honor in your kingdom, one at your right hand, one at your left hand."

22Jesus responded, "You have no idea what you're asking." And he said to James and John, "Are you capable of drinking the cup that I'm about to drink?"

They said, "Sure, why not?"

23Jesus said, "Come to think of it, you are going to drink my cup. But as to awarding places of honor, that's not my business. My Father is taking care of that."

As I continue my walk toward Zion, I have noticed that the more I volunteer to do things that are not in my comfort zone, volunteer to do things that don't fit what I perceive to be my skill set, the more I am humbled and broken in the right places. That's what I need, and I think we all need, to be able to continually submit to Christ as Lord.

To pick up my cross, I have to allow Him to humble me.

I have to drink from the same cup as our Lord in order to do any good. The plain truth is I struggle to make home visits, I struggle more to be with a group of people I don't know, I struggle on hospital visits. I do not struggle when I'm up front, when I'm in the lead, when I'm the one whom the spotlight is on. So my volunteering lately has been to do those things I struggle with, to have God chip away at my outside and humble me on the inside.

It is the way of the journey in which the journey is the main thing, not the destination of the journey.

Pray we all are humbled, and that we all benefit from the humbling.