M is for meekness.
I admire meekness because it doesn’t come easy for my pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps personality. Growing up my younger siblings nicknamed me bossy. My mom would continually remind me I was not the mother – and she did not need my help disciplining her children. As an adult working in accounting, I was affectionately referred to by my boss as “The Bulldog”. He knew if he needed past due money collected – I was his girl.
And I took pride in being defined by my strength.
Psalm 147:10-11 “He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.”
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” Phil 2:3
Your beauty…should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight 1 Peter 3:3-4
Ouch.
The dictionary defines meekness as gentleness, patience, kindness. The opposite of pride. Strongs defines it as “Biblical meekness is not weakness but rather refers to exercising God’s strength under His control – i.e. demonstrating power without undue harshness.”
The more I read the Bible and pray, the more I realize it says pretty much the opposite of everything I was and believed in my younger years. My get-ahead-at-all-costs philosophy may have appeared successful, but in reality I was hurting those I loved the most. I’m thankful for God’s grace and his working in me what I can not do on my own. (Phil 2:13).
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” 2 Cor 9:8
“And I took pride in being defined by my strength.” I think you know me well enough to know that this sentence presently defines me. Yeegads. I’m going to be chewing on this awhile. God help me not hold strength as an idol. How I covet it! Super-convicting post.
I see meekness in you. For example, I remember you telling me, “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.” (Ps 16:7) when I was trying to teach my children two history curriculum simultaneously.