Look Up to Greatness

I cringe at the thought of me without my family. It’s easy to get caught up in the celebration of “I”. It’s easy to accredit life to me. But, who I and what I am is not the product of me rising above what I was thrown into. I was not tossed at birth into a hurricane from which I had to escape through unfailing determination. It was not from ashes that I rose, it was not from the rubble that I stand. No, on the contrary, I stand at all, not because of my own strength or intrinsic capacity for anything great. I have been pulled and propped up, I lean on the shoulders and in the arms of family and of God. Without such help, I would have nothing and be nothing. Any accomplishment that I achieve now or in the remainder of the life I live will and should be credited to those that have stood me up. I am more of a deck of cards than a strong house. Without the careful and thoughtful planning of primarily my parents, I would be but a single stack of cards.

Someday I of course hope to be more steady than a deck of cards, but the analogy serves the point I’m making. I’ve accomplished nothing apart from the workings of strong caring and loving people in my life. And every time I have fallen or ever will, it will not be because I was not given the strength to stand, but because even with all that I have been given I am still inadequate. I owe any thanks to the love in the hearts of those who surround me and shine through the screen of inadequacy and into the hope and possibilities of what I could b. That love then compounded with patience, I stand at all today. It’s easy to be humble in myself while resting in the arms of those who have built me up and nourished me. It’s easy to be humble while looking up to great people and to God.

Finding someone low enough to look down at is never difficult. Just because it is possible does not mean that you are really that tall. It just means that you are not at the bottom, or maybe you are but you are just too blind to know it. Keep looking up into the face of greatness, that is where the grounding of reality rests and where the realization of humility is to be found.