Requirements

Humility

“You can never do a kindness too soon for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Hebrew Bible book of Micah (6:8) asks this question: “...what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Seems simple, right? Wonder why it's so difficult for us “mortals” to do? The writer of the book must have studied human nature and found the three most difficult tasks for us to do with any consistency whatsoever, and then gleefully wrote them right into the mouth of God. Justice, mercy, and humility...these three are requirements, not suggestions.

Maybe if we were able to just choose one a day we'd be able to stick with the program—justice on Monday, mercy on Tuesday and so on. The truth is, we can do all three at the same time when we care about the people or the cause. We have no trouble being just and kind and merciful to our loved ones, or within our tribe of friends. To them we are endlessly helpful. Where we run into a problem is when someone looks different, prays differently, has a different language or sexual orientation. Then we tend to judge them based on our own prejudices. All of us are guilty of this—not just some of us.

I've looked and looked in both the Hebrew Bible and in the Christian New Testament, and I simply cannot find anywhere that we are instructed to deal differently with certain types of people. I think that requirement in Micah means ALL people. Oh, dear. God knows I am no paragon of virtue, but it helps me to realize how many people all along the way have shown these qualities to me. I have been shown justice, mercy, and kindness by many, many people my whole long life. Many times, more often than not, I really did not deserve it, but it wasn't about me—it was about their own soul striving to keep those commandments. Knowing that I have so often been shown justice, mercy and kindness when I did not deserve it brings with it the third attribute—humility. And, humility is the key to becoming like them—kind and merciful. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it. I don't always follow these commandments with a happy heart, but I try to do them anyway. Being kind to someone else—whether they deserve it or not—may be exactly what they need to arrive at humility. Who knows—maybe we're all here just to save each other's souls! And, in the process, our own.

                                                       In the Spirit,

                                                           Jane