Having been traveling a while, facing some more wilderness and snow, I had time to reflect on the size of my tiny existence.  So I share this verse.  "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit," the apostle Paul writes in the second chapter of his letter to the Christian church at Philippi, "but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves."  Whether we are religious or spiritual or not, we can take these words as emblematic of a considered and worthy life.  When Mother Theresa came to Stockholm to receive her Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she wore the same garb that she had been wearing for decades, the simple vestments of her Catholic order.  While those who gave her the prize wore their evening's finest and the ceremony held in an opulent hall once used by Europe's highest royalty, all of these, it seemed, did not matter to Mother Theresa.  She had spent her life living out Paul's encouragement to his flock so many centuries ago, to give up personal ambitions for the good of others.  She had given her life for her fellow human beings.
     Judging from the revelations of her personal papers a number of years ago, we know that Mother Theresa struggled with her faith and her walk with God.  Who doesn't?  By its very definition, faith is one of the most challenging tasks any human will take on.  On the whole, however, it is not her angst that mattered, but Mother Theresa's heart, and how she used it.
     As we journey ever deeper into Lent, we should think often of humility.  Humility is not the first thing most of us think about exuding.  It's not most peoples' modus operandi.  Humility rarely comes naturally to anyone.
     Perhaps that's the point.  Sure, there are perverse and unnatural behaviors in which we can engage, but humility is one of those "unnatural behaviors" in which we should engage.  It breaks boundaries, it undermines norms.  Looking out for others lets us know that in the biggest of all pictures, what we do for others is far more important than what we do for ourselves.