June 1

[Beth Rankin]

Fri, 1 August Clothe yourselves in humility in your relationships with others, for God gives his grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5:5-7   I am definitely guilty of pride.  I very much enjoy people, whether it is just smiling to someone in the hallway at work, chitchatting with people who come into the office trying to put them at ease, working with others to achieve a group goal.  While I feel fortunate that I seem to be able to contribute my resources without being too pushy, I know that at times my ability to perceive needs and my tendancy to speak my mind (no matter how I try to rein that in) puts some people off. Humility is not something that is natural for me.   On the other hand, when I recognize I do not have a skill I need, I have learned over time, to ask for help.  My first job out of college was working for the Tennessee Supreme Court.  My assignment was to implement a new information system in all the state courts. I travelled to all of the clerks offices in 95 counties, and did not fully understand the legal jargon I listened to.  I nodded and acted like I knew, all the time feeling like there was a huge neon sign blinking "fraud" over my head.  How much more at ease I would have been if I had just asked for a tutorial from one of the many lovely and friendly people I worked with.  So, only years later, when I learned to express my lack of knowledge, I became open to teaching.  And so, I guess, I have also learned that humility is certainly nothing to avoid.