Litany of Humility - Warning, this is radical!

Like I said...this is very radical.  I have prayed this before and it has cost me...I still greatly desire to be truly humble but I am careful about how soon and how deeply I desire it.  It's simply not our nature as human beings.

Litany of Humility

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being honored, deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O Jesus

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Jesus

That others may be loved more than I, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may, increase and I may decrease, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

For those who are wondering, to be calumniated means to be spoken badly about, be lied about or falsely accused of something.  To repeat, this is TOUGH prayer...its the kind that takes a scouring pad or something more like sand paper to your heart and gives it a good, long scrub.  Like tough grease it's gotta cut through pride, selfishness and years of being trained to choose what is convenient and comfortable.  And it is only done by grace...pure and undeserved grace!  Jesus...you're so good to us.  So, so good. 

Songs of truth, in espanol

This first one is called "Estoy Aqui" which means "Here I Am" or "I Am Here."  It refers to Christ, God, the Holy Spirit - all right here for us and with us.  The song itself talks about hard seasons in life and not forgetting that whether or not we feel God's presence He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. My favorite lines: "Si quieren traicionarte lo usaré para tu bien, si quieren engañarte lo usaré para tu bien, si quieren hacerte daño lo usaré para tu bien, porque a los que me aman todo le obra para bien."  Roughly translated that means: If they want to betray you, I'll use it for your good.  If they want to trick you, I will use it for your good.  If they want to hurt you, I will use it for your good because I will work all things together for the good of those who love me."  That is a promise God makes to us.  


This song is called "Hablame de Jesus" which means "Talk to me about Jesus."  It basically is sung from the point of view of someone who is wondering about Jesus, what He did for them, what the cross is all about.  My favorite line is this one: El que se dice llamar cristiano por que me tratas con desprecio y no me tratas como hermano?...si tu quieres que alguien escuche el mensaje que tu les prediques pues primero tienes que vivirlo...no me hables de condenacion, si ni siquieras me has hablado de la salvacion, de la redencion, y restauracion..."  That translates to "You say you are a Christian but rather than treat me like a brother, you reject me.  If you want someone to listen to your message, live it out, first.  Don't talk to me about condemnation, if you haven't even talked to me about salvation, redemption and restoration."  Amen, right? Amen.  Enjoy.

Mother's Day

I haven’t been able to write in awhile because I haven’t felt up to it.  And right now, I both do and don’t want to write.  Nonetheless, here we go!

We just wrapped up our Mother’s Day program on Friday, May 11.  Mother’s Day is celebrated here in Mexico every year on May 10.  We decided to set our program for that Friday and a good number of mothers came out.  I was very nervous beforehand because we had not been able to practice as much for this performance as we had for Christmas and it seemed that this time around the kiddos had more ants in their pants, if you know what I mean.  I felt even worse because I ended up yelling at them more than usual, taking out on them what was a short timeline – not their fault at all.  But my mom gave me some solid advice and I prayed that God would allow us to simply be focused, calm and have a good time that day.  I planned to only say encouraging things to the children on that Friday and I wrote down what I would say.  The difference was recognizable.   With those words, smiles from their moms and grace from God, they did so great!  So great.  I was running back and forth a bit, so the only thing I could have asked for was the opportunity to take some pictures.  But, other than that, I was very content with their performances.  A girl who usually doesn’t talk much sang like a champ.  Another who has been known to end up staring at her nails or playing with her hair did all the dance moves brilliantly.  Best of all, there was a special part where they had to get the timing just right to do a sort of spin/turn and (praise God!) they did it and it looked great!   Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommies out there.  You guys have a job that no one understands unless they are in your shoes.  Your words, actions, hugs, smiles, everything you do impacts us.  For better and for worse, you help make us who we are.  The words “thank you” is not enough by far…nor are any presents we could give you.  Personally speaking, there isn’t any gift I could give or anything I could say to show my mom what she means to me after all these years.  I love you Mom and I wish I could be there to celebrate YOU, with you!