Saturday, February 27, 2010

Better to be the Servant.

"We're so eager to be important, to be noticed, and to have prestige. Let Jesus be your example. Forget about your own self-importance and focus on the needs of others."

I have to keep this in mind a lot... so I thought I would put it on here as a reminder to myself.

3 comments:

Suzanne said...

I know what you mean. Pride gets into everything. I learned something else about false pride this week. Even when we get upset because we didn't do something just right..it can get out of hand and that can be the wrong kind of pride..even if we really believe that doing the best was a very important good thing. Its remembering that whatever we do, we do to the best of our abilities and owe it all to God and so if everything isn't perfect (because it never will be..we aren't God) then we can just be thankful that we did our best and the parts that weren't so perfect..hey..He will still be pleased because we gave it our all, so the getting upset and the false pride doesn't need to happen. Did that just make sense? LOL!

Mike Keucher said...

True enough...I have a problem wit this as most do. It's so easy to focus on oneself.

Here's the hardest prayer I've ever prayed, which I have to struggle to utter every time I pray it.


O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

Teresa said...

Mom,

yes, that made sense to me!


Mike,

Thank-you for sharing that prayer. I can see how it is really hard to pray, but it is something that we all need to work-on. Being humble is not as easy as it is made out to be...

Teresa