For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
Luke 14:11
I rode my bike the other day to a park and there was a 5K race with a couple of hundred of people dressed in costume! Pumpkins, goblins, and all kind of yellow, orange and red and green themed costumes. It was fantastic to see, but I was disappointed that I didn't have my quiet park time that I expected. I almost turned around and went home, but I decided to ride, since getting outside was equally as important to me as the quiet time in the park. Because it was nearly impossible to ride on the park path without bothering the joggers, I chose to ride in the grass throughout the park. What a workout that turned out to be! At first I thought: Well I hope these people are grateful that I'm going out of my way not to be on the path, and then I realized how selfish that thought really was. I really struggled on parts of the sandy grass, and as I grew tired, I realized that most everyone jogging at that point was pretty worked out too. It was hot and many costumes were falling apart.
The take home for me was that as I proudly thought I deserved recognition for "sharing my park space" with a couple of hundred runners, I humbly realized how ridiculous that thought really was. And as I rode in the grass and sandy spaces, I rode next to those running and felt a sense of renewed comaraderie as we all struggled to get through the trail. Much better to share in comaraderie than to be alone in false humility.
