Three out of four readings today talk about boasting and humility. So I guess that should be my focus :)
As Aslan says in the quote above (aka CS Lewis), humility doesn't mean talking or thinking badly about yourself. It isn't being humble to say "I'm no good at cooking" if you're a chef. Mother Teresa famously said that "Humility is to speak as little as possible about yourself." It's not thinking that you're bad... it's thinking more about God and other people. Focusing on them.
Today I went to Taco Bell. I happen to love tacos, even the Taco Bell variety. :) I witnessed a very interesting situation. The regular manager was there that I've seen dozens of times. He's a wonderful man, very friendly and cheerful, always with a smile and a very fatherly, caring way with his staff. I admire him. He was obviously training a bunch of new people...and food was coming out slowly. One woman was irate that her food took over 30 minutes to come out. She loudly demanded a refund, yelled that she wanted her food right now, and berated the manager using foul language. The manager apologized, gave her a refund, and gave her her food just as she asked. She then said she was complaining to corporate and stormed out.
The man behind her in line ordered his food. It took a long time to come out, but he saw the drama, and said nothing. He noticed how well the manager took care of the woman. He then went to the register and asked for a gift card. The cashier had to call the manager to learn how to do it. The cashier was swiping the card too fast, and the manager said (very encouragingly, like a dad teaching his son) "Do it with love... not so fast!" And he showed him how to slow down... "with love". The cashier tried it with the customer's credit card... but he went too slow. "I guess I did it with too much love!!" joked the cashier, and all three men laughed. When the gift card was loaded, I watched as the customer gave the gift card to the manager, thanking him for his work and patience in dealing with the irate woman. The customer then got on his smart phone and went to the Taco Bell site and I could see that he gave the manager great reviews.
This was humility vs pride in action. The woman was all about being selfish and angry and yelling. The man behind her was humble. His food took just as long as hers to come out. But he SAW... he noticed that the manager was doing his best to take care of her. His focus was on the needs of the other people... not his own needs. He went out of his way to reward someone for being a good employee and a good person. He set an example for all of the customers and employees who were watching. He changed the tone of the room with that simple gesture.
May I learn to be humble, like that man.
God, thank You for examples of humility from whom we can learn.
3 comments:
What a gentleman.
More of these is what we need. Humble is never over rated and a sign of strength not weakness. Many will change their ways with these two examples and hopefully no one will follow in the screamers foot steps.
Guess I was wrong...lol
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