think about these words:

"blessed are the poor in spirit. blessed are the humble. blessed are the meek." (Matthew 5)

then watch tv for one hour, work in corporate america, go to a shopping mall, a target, even a church, for that matter.

is that what you hear? (blessed are the meek?)
i think not. everything is screaming at us:
STATUS, RECOGNITION, MONEY, HARD BODY, GOOD CLOTHES, PERFECT HOUSES, MONEY, BETTER, BIGGER, MORE/MORE/MORE!

but then, out of the mouth of GOD HIMSELF:
"blessed are the meek."

doesn't God know that it is not so much fun to be meek? what's up with that?

God has continually set forth situations in the life of our family that have kept us from status, recognition, money (and forget the hard bodies, those days are gone.)
and, we have gotten close (at least we thought so) a time or two.
and, He has said no-that we are to remain meek. humble.
and, i will tell you what....it is just that...humbling. it hurts to the core to have your pride put in check that way.
but, He says that we are blessed because of it. wait a minute, he doesn't just say blessed...he says "they will inherit the earth". ahem. excuse me? mike check- is this thing on?
did you hear that?

all i know, is that we are simple people. we were made that way. it is of our own doing that we have convoluted everything and think we need all that we need. (Celebration of Discipline, Foster)
and, may i be clear, i am not talking simple, as in the magazine, Real Simple. no, we do not need everything sorted and filed away in millions of dollars worth of Container Store merchandise.
we are a simple race. we need God. we need Jesus. we need love. we need each other. we need the Earth. done and done.

so, as our family continues to fight the good fight an even fight against ourselves and that nagging feeling that we need, need, need...i cling to this:

There is the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, the maker of stars and air, and atoms and synapses and babies....and he loves me. (and, of course-he loves you.)
And, maybe, just maybe, he loves me so much, he wants me meek.
If i am meek, He gets to be strong. in me! If i am meek, then i cling to him more closely than ever and, since I am His girl, he rather likes it that way. Maybe one day, i will mature enough to be able to handle riches, status, recognition. or, maybe that will never be the case and i will die feeling meek.
oohhh, but then i get to inherit the earth!

sweet.