The Voices Of The Humble

I think one of the things that always comes to light in the most challenging of times - like 9/11 and this current Covid-19 crisis in my lifetime - is how powerful and world changing the voices of the humble really are.

In stable times - times of peace and comfort - it's easy to turn our attention to the megaphones. We can kick back and turn the world over to politicians and to sports icons and to talk show hosts and to all of those people who seem to have a monopoly on power and influence in the world.

But in a single day, in one unforeseen moment, even the loudest and most influential voices can be collectively and simultaneously muted by the invisible.

What is left, then, is the collective love and whispers of the humble.

What is left is our doctors and our retail workers and our pastors and our teachers and our moms and our neighbors. And it is not that these people scramble and urgently step up to fill in the gaps of this sudden silence, no, quite the opposite, it's that in this silence we suddenly get to see the beauty they've been contributing to the world all along.

In these moments, we come to discover just who it is that's been quietly holding the world together for us while the loudest and most viral voices of the world blind us to that reality. In these moments, we come to realize the voices we've come to worship are not the voices we need to be truly grateful for.

It's true. God amplifies true and kind voices. When I reflect on the people who have had the most impact on my life, it's the people who I don't believe are consciously trying to impact my life at all. It's the people who simply want to love. And love for no other reason than that's just what they want to contribute to the world.

The past couple of weeks, much like during 9/11, I've pictured God scooping some of the loudest voices from the stage and replacing them with the quiet and the humble. Only, these folks don't have time for the attention or any desire to make a speech when the stage is theirs. They just simply want to get back to doing what they've been doing all along.

They want to get back to loving. They want to get back to quietly holding the world together the way they've been holding us all together all along.
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In this silence, maybe we all have an opportunity to take a break from applauding the stars of this world, and instead, offer a quiet thank you to the humble.