My morning devo was my great reminder of how human we REALLY are:
REALLY HUMAN, REALLY POOR
The Christian who is really human is really poor. How does this poverty of spiritism reflect itself in day-to-day living?
In conversation, the poor man always leaves the other person feeling, "My life has been enriched by talking with you." And it has. He is not all exhaust and no intake. He doesn't impose himself on another; he doesn't overwhelm him with his wealth of insights; he doesn't try to convert him by concussion with one sledgehammer blow of the Bible after another. He listens well because he realizes he is poor and has so much to learn from others. His poverty enables him to enter the existential world of the other, even when he cannot identify with that world. Being poor, he knows how to receive and can express appreciation and gratitude for the slightest gift.
Atomic physicist and spiritual writer Peter van Breeman has written: "The poor man accepts himself. He has a self image in which the awareness of his limitations is very vivid but that does not depress him. This consciousness of his own insufficiency without feelings of self-hatred is typical of the poor in spirit."
Hear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.
You are my God; save your servant
who TRUSTS in you.
Psalm 86:1-2
- Manning; Reflections for Ragamuffins
As I read this devotional this morning, I was reminded of a friends facebook post that has stuck with me: