Humbled by Ordinary Greatness
Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. James 4:10
The other day while shopping, my husband and I were looking at a book written by a young man named Nick Vujicic, who has no arms or legs. His situation is not the result of a terrible accident. He was born that way. We flipped through the photo section of the book to see an adorable baby, smiling, laughing, face covered in chocolate. He could have been anyone of our grandbabies, except for the no limbs issue. My husband had never seen or heard of him so I shared the little I know of him and his life’s work. In doing so I felt seriously humbled.
This morning the devotional that I read was written by Fanny Crosby. She stands out to me as the child who praised God for her blindness. There is a great poem about her sightless life that she wrote at age, eight. It says:
Oh, what a happy child I am, although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be!
How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't!
So weep or sigh because I'm blind, I cannot - nor I won't.
What? She was eight years old! There is no self-pity, no woe is me in her little poem. She is joyful, sincerely joyful. That humbles me.
I hate to admit it but I “weep and sigh” over things of far less significance. So when I look at people like Nick and Fanny, like Joni Eareckson Tada, I feel as if I am wasting, worse squandering, what God has given to me. While I may not have superior intelligence or any raging talent, I do have four working limbs, good eyesight and fine hearing. The one thing I do share with the aforementioned people is a deep love of God. The difference is that they live out their faith in ways that amaze and humble me; while I see limits that may or may not exist.
We are many parts but just one body. Parts like Nick truly rely on other people’s hands and feet. Parts like me have limits that can’t be seen, needs that aren’t immediately identifiable. I lack the motivation and trust that drives people like Joni Eareckson Tada. I fall short of the level of faith of Fanny Crosby. At eight she was fully accepting of God’s plan for her life. She literally had blind faith and that little girl saw much more clearly than this old broad.
Last week two of my granddaughters had a pre-K completion ceremony. They sang a song about faith that said, “Just give Him all you got. It doesn’t take a lot.” Nick, Fanny, Joni, and many others, have given God all they have. Some have it “all” and some have great challenges. But those people, the ones who put all their eggs in God’s basket, those people are achievers. They are successful and I want to be more like them. I want to give God all I’ve got. More and more with each day He gives me I live to please my Father and yet, while fully physically and mentally capable, I allow ridiculous things to limit me or hold me back.
I read a message from Nick Vujicic which said that at one time he begged God to change him, heal his body. Now, inspired by the story from John 9 about the man born blind, he chooses to allow God to use him as he is, to bring glory to His name. Isn’t that what all of us should be doing? Whatever our circumstances, shouldn’t we give all we’ve got to God so that we can be used to bring glory to His name? Aside from the physical differences, Nick, Fanny and Joni are just believers like you and me. We all have talents and we all have challenges. The difference comes in how we view them and what we do with them.
The other day while shopping, my husband and I were looking at a book written by a young man named Nick Vujicic, who has no arms or legs. His situation is not the result of a terrible accident. He was born that way. We flipped through the photo section of the book to see an adorable baby, smiling, laughing, face covered in chocolate. He could have been anyone of our grandbabies, except for the no limbs issue. My husband had never seen or heard of him so I shared the little I know of him and his life’s work. In doing so I felt seriously humbled.
This morning the devotional that I read was written by Fanny Crosby. She stands out to me as the child who praised God for her blindness. There is a great poem about her sightless life that she wrote at age, eight. It says:
Oh, what a happy child I am, although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be!
How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't!
So weep or sigh because I'm blind, I cannot - nor I won't.
What? She was eight years old! There is no self-pity, no woe is me in her little poem. She is joyful, sincerely joyful. That humbles me.
I hate to admit it but I “weep and sigh” over things of far less significance. So when I look at people like Nick and Fanny, like Joni Eareckson Tada, I feel as if I am wasting, worse squandering, what God has given to me. While I may not have superior intelligence or any raging talent, I do have four working limbs, good eyesight and fine hearing. The one thing I do share with the aforementioned people is a deep love of God. The difference is that they live out their faith in ways that amaze and humble me; while I see limits that may or may not exist.
We are many parts but just one body. Parts like Nick truly rely on other people’s hands and feet. Parts like me have limits that can’t be seen, needs that aren’t immediately identifiable. I lack the motivation and trust that drives people like Joni Eareckson Tada. I fall short of the level of faith of Fanny Crosby. At eight she was fully accepting of God’s plan for her life. She literally had blind faith and that little girl saw much more clearly than this old broad.
Last week two of my granddaughters had a pre-K completion ceremony. They sang a song about faith that said, “Just give Him all you got. It doesn’t take a lot.” Nick, Fanny, Joni, and many others, have given God all they have. Some have it “all” and some have great challenges. But those people, the ones who put all their eggs in God’s basket, those people are achievers. They are successful and I want to be more like them. I want to give God all I’ve got. More and more with each day He gives me I live to please my Father and yet, while fully physically and mentally capable, I allow ridiculous things to limit me or hold me back.
I read a message from Nick Vujicic which said that at one time he begged God to change him, heal his body. Now, inspired by the story from John 9 about the man born blind, he chooses to allow God to use him as he is, to bring glory to His name. Isn’t that what all of us should be doing? Whatever our circumstances, shouldn’t we give all we’ve got to God so that we can be used to bring glory to His name? Aside from the physical differences, Nick, Fanny and Joni are just believers like you and me. We all have talents and we all have challenges. The difference comes in how we view them and what we do with them.
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