What have they got that I ain't got?

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provides you with that thirst for fullness that will not let your settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and fraternal.” (Pope John Paul II)

Thank you, JPII, for articulating exactly what it is I so often hope to say.

While I love this quote in its entirety, I especially love how he talks about “the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society...” I think this is really what this year is all about for me—or, at least, it informs a lot of what we do, and why we do it, and how.

I’ve never really thought about needing courage to be humble and patient before, but there was a very good reason JPII used that word (I mean, he was the Pope, after all; I think it’s safe to assume he’s got some things figured out!). So, why would he say that? Why would we need courage to be humble and patient?

Humility requires the courage to believe that someone else knows better than you. It requires trust—sometimes trust in a person you’re still not so sure of. Humility requires the courage to look at yourself in the mirror and still be able to say, “I am worth something,” while at the same time acknowledging that everyone else is as good as—better, even—than you. Courage is necessary if you are going to be truly humble in a world that says, “Look at me! Tell me all the good things I’ve done!” It means being willing to be overlooked, undervalued—manipulated even—all because you point to something greater.

You need courage for patience so that you don’t become discouraged when things don’t go your way, or don’t happen on time, or unforeseen circumstances pop up. You need courage to be patient in the face of other people telling you to give up, for ridiculing you for pursuing something of seemingly no (earthly) worth.

Courage is necessary for me to keep going every day, to look at myself and see where I lack, and to know what to do to fix it. Courage is knowing when to ask for help. Courage is not being afraid of failure, but embracing it as one step on the road toward perfection. Courage means knowing that I’ll never be perfect, but I’m going to try anyway.

I have a long way to go before I become truly humble or patient, but I feel like God is slowly re-forming my heart so that I am confident in being small, and excited about being unnoticed. It’s crazy, I know. So keep praying for me, because it’s going to be a long, hard journey, and I’ll need all the help I can get!