Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else.
Interpretation
Humility involves selflessness and dedication to others or a cause.
In this quote, Madeleine L'Engle emphasizes that true humility is not about diminishing oneself but is rather the act of focusing entirely on the needs and importance of others. It suggests that by dedicating oneself fully to something or someone outside of oneself, one embodies a deep, profound sense of humility and purpose.
In practice
Using this quote during a leadership seminar to illustrate the essence of servant leadership.
Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.
George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.
If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
God never witholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful -- "severe mercies" at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better.
I think that if you live long enough, you realize that so much of what happens in life is out of your control, but how you respond to it is in your control. That's what I try to remember.
I'm proud of what I am and who I am, and I'm just going to be myself.
Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.
Do not put all your eggs in one basket.
Do we dare be ourselves? That is the question that counts.
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