Amma Theodora said, ‘Let us strive to enter by the narrow gate, Just as the trees, if they have not stood before the winter’s storms cannot bear fruit, so it is with us; this present age is a storm and it is only through many trials and temptations that we can obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven.’ The same amma said that a teacher ought to be a stranger to the desire for domination, vain-glory, and pride; one should not be able to fool him by flattery, nor blind him by gifts, nor conquer him by the stomach, nor dominate him by anger; but he should be patient, gentle and humble as far as possible; he must be tested and without partisanship, full of concern, and a lover of souls. She also said that neither asceticism, nor vigils nor any kind of suffering are able to save, only true humility can do so.
Category Archives: HUMILITY
“If I weren’t reasonably placid, I don’t think I could cope with this sort of life. To be a diva, you’ve got to be absolutely like a horse.” DAME JOAN , SUTHERLAND.
“The horse, with beauty unsurpassed, strength immeasurable and grace unlike any other,
still remains humble enough to carry a man upon his back.”
~ Amber Senti
This is the step where humility smacks us right between the eyes. It was one thing to write out our inventory for ourselves. As for sharing it with God—if there is a God, He’d know all about us anyway.
But we’re also being asked to share our inventory with another person! This is asking too much! Why can’t we simply assess ourselves and get on with the business of cleaning up our lives?
More Comments About Step 5
This may be one of the most challenging steps we face in our recovery process, but it can also be one of the most fulfilling in terms of removing us from our isolation. In order to accomplish Step 5, the three-part sharing it endorses must take place. That is, all of what we discovered about ourselves in our Step 4 inventory is to be freely admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being.
…Because these areas are so sensitive and so very personal, it is important to exercise care in choosing the person or persons with whom we formally share our fifth step. Such individuals should be trustworthy and somewhat detached from the situations about which we will share. For example, one would not usually call on a spouse or immediate family member to hear this confession. In fact, it is quite common to choose a therapist or pastoral counselor for this purpose. Also, such individuals should be compassionate, not condemning.
– Serenity, A Companion for Twelve Step Recovery, p. 45,46
“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
Sanskrit. — The spring is the youth of trees, wealth is the youth of men, beauty is the youth of women, intelligence is the youth of the young.
A tiger does not have to proclaim its tigertude. Nigerian
Did fear or a tiger lay hold of you ? ” A man surprised is half beaten.”
Tamil.
There are people in this world who can wear whale masks and people who cannot, and the wise know to which group they belong.” ― Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume
Death is patiently making my mask as I sleep. Each morning I awake to discover in the corners of my eyes the small tears of his wax.
Philip Dow
foto –izzy foreal at brierfield halloween 2013
A lowly cabin with potatoes is better than a hungry castle.
http://conwaymilltrust.org/category/quotes-poems-proverbs-and-sayings/page/6/
Is fearr bothán biamhar ná caisleán gortach.
A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle.
Golf… is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well. P. G. Wodehouse
Golf is horrifying, humiliating, and humbling, but I can’t wait to do it again
Tell me, O Brahmin, who is the lofty person in this city. “It’s the clump of Palm trees.” “Who is the philanthropist?”. It’s the washer man who collects (soiled) clothes in the morning and delivers them at night
http://sanskrit-quote.blogspot.com.au
My grandfather gave me my first guitar, an old acoustic with palm trees and dancing girls painted on it.
Dan Fogelberg
A weed is but an unloved flower.” ― Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The tulip and the butterfly
Appear in gayer coats than I:
Let me be dressed fine as I will,
Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.
Isaac Watts
Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-chicken-sayings-idioms-other-funny-things-we-say
Innocence plays in the backyard of ignorance.
A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy. ~ Albert Einstein
The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm
-Leonard Bernstein |
Kāore te kumara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka
The kumara (sweet potato) does not say how sweet he is
This proverbs accentuates the the value of humbleness.
http://www.maori.cl/Proverbs.htm
Lisa Jacobson
Longevity
There are ghosts of me here,
and a trace of the old circle
in the grass my father mowed
so we girls could ride our horses
in the park. We reach the metal
gate that leads up to the paddock
and beyond, the house where I
lived when young.
‘I often pause my walking
here to take a rest,’ you say.
‘This road, this house.’
I called out once, at this very gate
to a God I wasn’t sure was there.
And thirty years later here you are:
the odd longevity of prayer.
Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. Gustave Flaubert
from PAUL KELLY
We were driving back from the country one night
Mum and dad up the front and the rest of us snug and tight
My kid brother grizzled for a little minute
‘Til my big sister told him he’d better quit or die
It had been a long day in the countryside
Playing with the cousins on my mother’s side
The sound of the radio closed our eyes drifting over the seatAnd then I fell asleep I don’t know what woke me up
Maybe a country song or a big truck passing by
I could hear my mama and papa talking
Papa said something then mama began to cry
No more words then, just soft sobs and my head began to throb
I just lay there playing dog breathing slow and deep
They thought I was asleep
They thought I was asleep
Wisdom makes a slow defense against trouble, though a sure one in the end.
Oliver Goldsmith
Humility is the only certain defence against humiliation.
Stretch your hands as far as they reach, grab all you can grab. (Yoruba)
http://resourcepage.gambia.dk/proverbsall.htm
No one is so tall that she never needs to stretch, and no one is so short that she never needs to stoop.
Danish
http://www.special-dictionary.com/proverbs/keywords/stretch/2.htm
When a man hurries, the devil smiles.
POLISH
Love it the way it is. The way you see the world depends entirely on your own vibration level. When your vibration changes, the whole world will look different. It’s like those days when everyone seems to be smiling at you because you feel happy. The way to raise your vibration level is to feel more love. Start by loving your negative feelings, your own boredom, dullness and despair. It’s hard to believe, but changing the content of your mind does nothing to change your vibration level.
For the purpose of raising your awareness, it is useless to change your ideas, your faith, your behaviour, your place of residence, or your companions. It is not arbitrary or an accident that you are where you are, so you might as well get your attitude straight before you make a change. Otherwise you might find yourself chasing all over creation looking for the right place, and not even the Sea of Infinite Bliss will feel right to you. You take yourself with you wherever you go. As they say in Zen: If you can’t find it where you are standing, where do you expect to wander in search of it?
– Thaddeus Golas in “The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment”
http://www.astrolog.org/home/quotes.htm
It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“If you are a member of a small group or class, I urge you to make a group covenant that includes the nine characteristics of biblical fellowship: We will share our true feelings (authenticity), forgive each other (mercy), speak the truth in love (honesty), admit our weaknesses (humility), respect our differences (courtesy), not gossip (confidentiality), and make group a priority (frequency).”
― Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here for?
A great man is always willing to be little.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must of felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.
” Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, ‘Wait and Hope.”
― Alexandre Dumas
For parlour use, the vague generality is a life saver.
George Ade
“Most humbling of all is to comprehend the lifesaving gift that your pit crew of people has been for you, and all the experiences you have shared, the journeys together, the collaborations, births and deaths, divorces, rehab, and vacations, the solidarity you have shown one another. Every so often you realize that without all of them, your life would be barren and pathetic. It would be Death of a Salesman, though with e-mail and texting.”
― Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers
Those who don’t return become a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the ravines and of the water that comes from the earth. They become a part of everything. They become the Soul of the World.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Sit down before fact with an open mind. Be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads or you learn nothing. Don’t push out figures when facts are going in the opposite direction.”
― Hyman G. Rickover
I cannot hear what you say for the thunder of what you are.
African Proverb
The folktale is as follows: the peacock and the crow decide to add colour to their feathers, and to paint each other’s. The crow spends a long time painting careful designs on the peacock, who becomes so proud of his feathers he wants to strut and flaunt them. So when the peacock paints the crow, he just dumps black paint on and says he’s done. Yet the crow is more respected for his care for others and his modesty.
My heart knows what my mind only think it knows.
Noah Benshea, Jacob the Baker: Gentle Wisdom For a Complicated World
“I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.”
― Lao Tzu
“Be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true, be humble, be prayerful.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, Way To Be!: 9 Rules For Living The Good Life
“And as it turns out, if one person is praying for you, buckle up. Things can happen.”
― Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers
Fear pounds on the door to our heart demanding to be let in. Joy is modest and often comes into our lives like a shy person entering a room; it can take a while to even notice it’s there. ― Jonathan Carroll
Let us do our duty in our shop or our kitchen, the market, the street, the office, the school, the home, just as faithfully as if we stood in the front rank of some great battle, and we knew that victory for mankind depended on our bravery, strength, and skill. When we do that, the humblest of us will be serving in that great army which achieves the welfare of the world.
Theodore Parker.
THE OLD PROVERBIAL RECOVERY 