Humble

James 4:6

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

 

It sounds odd to say I'm working on my humility and giving God credit; but there you have it - I'm working.  How does one work on humility? 

 

Well, for one I think it is immediately giving God the credit; without thought, you just do it.  I am lacking, I take the credit. 

 

Monday, I "fixed" a malfunctioning food machine.  I said "I did it" and mentioned how "I" fixed the food machine.  I didn't mention the prayer beforehand for God's help, and the fact that I really had no idea what I was doing - I just did it and God used my hands to fix it. 

 

Kind of a fail, there.  I wish I had gone straight to giving God the credit. 

 

I think I did a little better today.  Ron's cable was out.  He couldn't figure it out.  I tried everything on my end to make it work but he doesn't have a TV in his room.  "My" TV, in addition to being old, is also very heavy.  It doesn't work with the advanced boxes (like his) either.  They had to give me the "simple" box, which I love. 

 

How to fix it?  We went to work, came home, and it didn't work.  We unplugged it and let it sit for a while.  No joy.  Ron finally called tech support, who ran a line test and said he did have a problem, he should check the splitter. 

 

Ron looked at what he had in the room; it seemed fine.  My end of things (cable modem and simple box hooked to my old TV) was fine.  So, it was only on Ron's room. 

 

I went outside, around the house, to the entry point.  Cable comes out of the ground (we had ours buried) and goes into the house there.

 

Now, I had to take electronics and tech stuff for my ham radio test.  I also learned how to build computers and install software.  I was pretty good, back in the day, at troubleshooting basic computer issues, and almost everytime it was a loose connector.  If it wasn't that, it was what my Dad calls a "power off restart" (unplug it for a couple minutes, plug it back in).  All that applies nicely to the 12+ years I've worked with vending machines, as well. 

 

So, I checked the connections.  One seemed loose so I tightened it again.  I checked everything and tightened up anything that seemed loose, but besides the one connector we seemed fine. 

 

I went back in the house and punched up 23 on the remote, and the speakers began blaring "Criminal Minds".  GOTCHA! 

 

Ron, profusely grateful (still!) kept praising me.  After a brief "I did it!" I started giving God credit and behaving in what I'd consider a more "humble" manner (it wasn't that big a deal, I just tightened it up, etc). 

 

I want to be a person of humility.  I hate my pride.  It has cost me a lot over the years. 

 

Let's be honest, everyone likes the humble person, too.  [grin]