Week of Oct. 1,2017
The Scripture ~ “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God, but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status, no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” Philippians 2:5-8 The Message
The Spiritual Focus ~ “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” C.S. Lewis
The Devotion ~ Integrating our belief in God, incorporating our faith practices with yoga philosophy finds a common ground in healing and living a healthy life. Perhaps this integration could be thought of as the why and the how of integrated faith and yoga practices. Both faith and yoga speak of humility as a healing, healthy way to live. While yoga may give us techniques to practice letting go of our fear and selfishness, our scripture today gives us the why and the example, Jesus! The scripture is from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, a hymn, to encourage a struggling community not to give up, it is commonly called the “Christ Hymn.” This scripture is a favorite for many because it reminds us that Jesus who could choose a different path, chose instead to humble himself and trust God.
Humility is rarely innate, it usually needs to be identified and practiced to be an authentic expression of self. A recent interview with Robert Redford was impressive because no matter how the interviewer tried to trick him into an elevated status as a heart throb, actor, entrepreneur, activist or movie producer he came back with very humble responses that were neither denigrating, placating nor elevating, he was very rooted in a place of humility.
At the end of the day we share a common humanity; authentic humility acknowledges our humanity. We are not greater than or lesser than another, we are uniquely created to love each other, for who we are, witnessed by the fact that we are first brought into a loving relationship by a sacrificing God.
Breath Prayer ~ I am Humble
