Stay humble and take no offense

November 21, 2019 | 20 comments

“It is our pride that makes another’s criticism rankle, our self-will that makes another’s deed offensive, our egotism that feels hurt by another’s self-assertion.”

~ Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 224

Put on the Mind of Christ and stay free of pride. Trust God’s will to be done and have no fear of other’s misdeeds. Acknowledge one Ego and reflect God’s peace and calm. Your day will go smoother, relationships will be benefited, and conflicts will resolve or be avoided altogether.

20 thoughts on “Stay humble and take no offense”

  1. Thank you, Evan, for the reminder from Mrs. Eddy. It is SO important for us to watch the edges of our thinking and our deeds to make certain that they are not rough, but smooth and untouched, just as our lives lived are smooth and untouched.

  2. Oh, such woe comes from thinking we can be hurt! — that we have a life or ego wandering around like pinballs hitting one obstruction after another, and keeping score! In the words of a beautiful hymn, “We are hid in Christ forever, in the Father’s holy plan.” We are and always have been blessings to each other, ideas of God, moving in harmony with all God’s ideas, knowing, feeling, seeing only God’s complete, loving care. What can hurt God’s idea? Believing that there are proudly good mortal minds that can be harmed by nasty bad mortal minds doesn’t make it true.
    How many minds are there?
    One.
    In that infinite allness of One, there are NO mortal minds. Very humbling to know!!

    1. Love what you say, Diane, so true, and love the hymn. Thanks a lot!

      Thank you very much Evan, so needed to be humble; it leads to healing. And that is so very desirable. 🙂

  3. So important and helpful! I love Your comment Diane. The idea that “we can only bless each other” and that” we are living and moving in harmony with God’s ideas, feeling and seeing God’s complete loving care.” Good ideas to take with you before going into a social occasion or meeting! When I have felt hurt or unappreciated, I have often prayed that I can’t be separated from God’s love and that I can see and feel that love all around me!

  4. For me this can be a difficult task. But pride can carry with it a great deal of pain when one is the object of jealous behavior. Humility with compassion can be an effective weapon against such. Listening for divine guidance also requires a sense of humility, that all real solutions include you but is not yours to give but to follow.

  5. This is something I work on a lot because I felt easily hurt many times in the past. What I have found helpful is another part of the statement Evan quoted where it says,”The mental arrow shot from another’s bow is practically harmless, unless our own thought barbs it.”” I find my best answer about how be safe from another’s self-assertion in the Bible Lesson this week on Soul and Body where it says, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” (Isa. 60:1) I take this to mean that we are all God’s shining,.. each one of us a ray of light. And an arrow passes right through a beam of light because there is nothing material to catch and hold it. It’s material thinking or ego that barbs criticism and feels hurt. In the poem Christmas Morn Mrs. Eddy refers to the Christ as, “Thou gentle beam of living Love, …(Hymn. 23:1, 4 (to 1st ,) To me this means that I am safe from hurtful assertions when I reject a personal sense of self or ego apart from God and embrace my godlike nature and that of others as well. When I accept and am true to my genuine selfhood as Soul’s shining I know I am safe and this has helped me.

  6. T. Is it true?
    H is it helpful?
    I is it inspiring?
    N is it necessary?
    K is it kind?
    Ty all for sharing & this helpful acrostic poem
    whom I know not the author.

  7. I love the visual symbolism of the photo. Humility is often mistaken for weakness and passivity (typically by those who cling to their personal sense of ego and human pride). But in reality it is full of power and strength. A strong weapon that protects and gives us deep peace.

  8. Growing up during civil rights era I often encountered abusive language. Our Baptist Sunday School teacher helped us deal with such insults. A favorite lesson, “Sticks and Stones”.

    “Sticks and Stones” is an English language children’s rhyme. The rhyme persuades the child victim of name-calling to ignore the taunt, to refrain from physical retaliation, and to remain calm and good-natured.

    Follow this video for an enlightened understanding of how the African Methodist Episcopal Church, used adage to esteem their Afro-American youth.
    The Genius of Sticks & Stones
    https://www.facebook.com/brooksgibbs/videos/10155800600542042/?hc_location=ufi

    Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticks_and_Stones

  9. I particularly like your reference to “trust God’s will”
    Evan. This is true humility and blesses all.
    Thanksgiving Day in US is a time for the grace of
    God to be recognized .Have a lovely weekend.

  10. I so appreciate this message. Thanks to all who shared today. I especially liked the idea that Karen shared — “an arrow passes right through a beam of light because there is nothing material to catch and hold it.” So let us all be that beam of light and Love. It reminds me of this hymn 178:” Love is life’s true crown and glory, / Love the splendor of the light, / Truly is God’s counsel gentle, / Truly all His ways are bright; / Jesus knew the law of kindness, / Healing mind and heart of blindness; / And in heavenly wisdom taught / Holy works of love he wrought.” Let God govern, guard and guide our thoughts and actions.

  11. I have been having moments when I see the very often, every day interference of mortal mind.
    I was at a drive up at my bank. All went perfectly. I found myself being relieved it had gone well not that I have ever had a problem. I thought: expecting something to go wrong and be relieved it did not happens more than I had noticed. That is a mortal mind moment. I stopped and corrected my thought. Of course it went well, that is the true life you live. Just wanted to share.

  12. A demonstration of trusting God’s will: Many years ago, I was swimming in Puerto Rico when a huge wave taller than my 2 story house was suddenly trying to suck me under. I heard in consciousness, “Trust” followed by my childhood nickname. Instantly, I knew that I had to swim up to the crest of that wave and body surf like I did thousands of times growing up on a beach in Maine. I rode that giant wave diagonally all the way to shore, missing the tall trees that were immediately in front of me. I dug my arms and legs up to my knees into the churned up sand and waited for the wave to recede. Later I learned that one woman died in the water that day and one man had his swimming trucks sucked out from under him. This huge wave resulted from a mag 5.5 earthquake that was 20 minutes away from me and an after shock from the larger California quake the day before. I am so grateful that I trusted God and pray that we all trust God every day. The Christ saves us!!! Peace be still to the ground beneath our feet. We have dominion over earthquakes and all matter.

  13. So grateful to Evan and all for help understanding humility. This has been difficult for me to understand, I think, because I have been successful in life most of the time. When I presented myself to join a cloister convent at age 9, the Mother Superior told me to go home and “grow in humility” and come back when I was 17. I didn’t know what humility was then, and am just getting a handle on it now. Again grateful. Humility is a quality of God and as such, we cannot
    do anything but express it – expressing humility is innate within us.

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