The Way of
Humility
How refreshing
it is to come across individuals who realize they have their parents to thank
for so much of what they have in life. Marian Anderson was one of those
individuals.
She had a
magnificent contralto voice that gave her worldwide acclaim.
On one occasion,
a reporter asked her to name the greatest moment in her life. Those in the room
hearing the question wondered what she would say.
There were so
many great moments, like the night Arturo Toscanini said publicly,
Yours is a voice such as
one hears once in a hundred years.
Or there was
that time back in 1955 when she became the first African-American to sing with
the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Or she could
have pointed to the following year when her autobiography, My Lord,
What a Morning, made the New York Times bestseller list.
Or when she was
selected by the President of the United States to be a delegate to the United
Nations.
She also had
been invited to the White House to sing for the president as well as the Queen
of England and her royal husband. In 1963, she was awarded the coveted
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
What God Expects Of You
And she would
never forget the day she stood in the shadow of the Lincoln statue and sang
before 75,000 people in Washington D.C., including Cabinet members, all of the
Supreme Court justices, and most of the members of Congress.
But she named
none of these. Her answer? She smiled and looked at the reporter as she
replied,
The greatest moment of my life
was the day I went home and told my mother she wouldn’t have to take in washing
anymore.
How great is
that? How rare is that! She never forgot her roots.
I don’t care how
high you rise in the ministry . . . how significant you may believe you are . .
. or how much money you make.
Gratitude is
what God expects of you. Why? Isaiah puts it this way, rendered so poignantly
in the King James Version:
Look unto the rock whence ye are
hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. (Isaiah 51:1)
The Pit From Where You Came
What a vivid
expression! Remember the pit from where you came.
Every once in a
while, it’s good to drift back to the pit, at least in your mind, and
remember.
It’s amazing the
perspective that offers.
Remember those
who sacrificed for you so you can become who you are now . . . those who know
you and, quite probably, love you more than anyone ever has on this earth.
Remember also the grace of God that sustained you from the very beginning. . .
.
Gratitude. It’s
essential at times to remember “the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.”
1Excerpt adapted
from Charles R. Swindoll, The Church Awakening (New York:
FaithWords Hachete Book Group, 2010) Copyright © 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll,
Inc. All rights reserved.
The Pastor's Blog - Chuck Swindoll
