Humility

Lately, I've been listening to some of my favourite CDs from college. The debut CD from Jars of Clay has been top of my list this last week. Lots of excellent music with lyrics that go right to the basics of Christianity - self-sacrifice, learning to love others, and remembering what Jesus gave for us to know God.

That's why I chose not to defend myself when someone in a meeting highlighted a mistake that I had made - even passing around the proof for everyone to see. I don't really believe that I did what it was said that I did, but my hand wrote a note that seemed to indicate that I had acted outside of my authority - not something I have done in the way being discussed. But I couldn't remember what happened and I really had no come back. So I remained silent while everyone discussed the error and how it could be avoided in future.

Now you might have guessed that I'm still smarting from this experience. Well, the main point I'm getting at is that I allowed myself to be blamed even though that is not in my nature. I am the first one to point out the errors of the other players in the "team" because I work so hard not to make mistakes and I don't like to take the blame for other people.

In this situation I actually found myself thinking, "This is a good lesson in humility. No one is directly attacking you. Just tolerate this because there is no proof that you didn't do this and you can't remember what happened."

I found myself wondering if I would have protested and become angry if I hadn't been listening to music that reminded me of how Jesus accepted blame and death when He had done nothing wrong.

It never hurts to focus on the basics again.

Check out Jars of Clay: http://www.jarsofclay.com