I write my Connecting Point reflections in the evening after taking about an hour to sit and pray with Jesus. For this reflection, I prayed for quite a few days and the quotation below kept entering my thoughts:
“If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you are blamed you will not be discouraged. If they call you a saint you will not put yourself on a pedestal.”
Mother Teresa
I reflected on the changes in my life over the last year. Just over a year ago, I was working for a major insurance company, living everyday just to be “the man” at the company. Then through a lot of prayer and love/support from my family and friends, I made the decision to quit after 16 years and take an at home job. This move allowed me to focus more on my seminary studies and church ministry.
Since this decision, the blessings in my marriage, relationships, Church life and personal “call” have been endless. But funny enough, the move to work at home set off all kinds of jokes about “how I work from home.”
Just last week, I was at a dinner and was asked what I do for a living now. After answering, there was a mixture of sly chatter and then an uncomfortable silence followed by “Church jokes.” I think the old me would have snapped back or had some sarcastic response, but I smiled and simply thought “I’m focusing on serving everyone, not myself anymore.”
Being humble is living in service to your fellow man, knowing the Lord loves you and that you don’t have to base your identity on what others think.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45
– John Kovacik