Choir Notes

Good Days Ahead
From Music and the Spoken Word
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4153

Humility is the realization that not everything that happens in life is all about you,” said Rabbi Harold Kushner. “True humility, grounded in a view of life that has taught us to keep in mind that we are not the only ones hurting, would have us think, All right, . . . things like this have happened to lots of people and they got over it. I’ll hurt but I’ll get over it too. Life is a chain of good days and bad days. I’ve just had a bad day, so there ought to be good days ahead."1

Difficulties and disappointments come to us all. Some things happen because of our own actions and attitudes—the choices we make. Other things that happen to us are outside of our control—the result of chance, biology, or other people’s choices. Humility is accepting responsibility for some things in our lives and knowing that some things are beyond our control. The challenge is to recognize the difference, be grateful for the opportunity to learn and gain wisdom, and go forward with faith. Humility is not weak resignation, but a combination of resolve and acceptance that comes of experience.

Without this kind of humility we come to resent those who appear to be happy, healthy, and prosperous. Without humility we see others as competitors for a limited supply of good fortune and goodwill. Without humility we feel self-pity, even bitterness, for the inevitable bad days and hard knocks that come our way.

Life may not be fair, it may not be easy, but it is filled with many possibilities and sweet compensations. Humility will help us to hold on through the hard times with hope for the good days ahead.

1 Overcoming Life’s Disappointments (2006), 120, 131.