The Power of Humility

MALCOLM S. MEAD

A few months ago I had a glimpse of the power of humility.

A club at my high school was sponsoring a volleyball tournament, and three friends and I decided to enter. While we were practicing, a few weeks before the tourney, I was accepting the belief of many minds instead of seeing all as the expression of the one Mind, which is God. I felt personally responsible for seeing that our practice sessions went smoothly. This caused me to boss my teammates around, always criticizing and becoming emotional. Nobody was playing well, I was hurting others, and a general atmosphere of discord prevailed.

I needed humility. The week before the tournament I realized I had to do some serious praying. As I read the Responsive Reading for the Lesson-Sermon^{In the Christian Science Quarterly;} of that week, the passage "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom"^{Luke 12:32;} stayed in my thought. The inspiration came to me that I need not be afraid to be humble. Before, I had always been afraid of failure. I thought I had to struggle to succeed. But now I saw that I needed to be humble and completely trust to God His unfoldment of the kingdom within me. Man can only reflect, never originate. All his ability, power, intelligence, action come from God. We might as well accept that, because it's the truth.