Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Humility In the Muck and Mire of Change

I read the following insert in the book 48 Days by Dan Miller:

The "Humus" in My Life

If you are a backyard gardener, you appreciate the value of humus--the decayed leaves and vegetable matter that feeds the roots of your plants. It's interesting to note that the same root word for humus gives rise to the word humility, explaining that the "humiliating" events of my life, the events that leave "mud in my face," may be the fertilizer in which something new and great can grow.

Fifteen years ago I crashed and burned in my business. Handshake relationships with the bank changed and my notes were called. I was forced into selling a health and fitness center at auction, resulting in owing more than $100,000 in personal debt. That "humiliating" experience refined my thinking and understanding of business. Today, I am free of bank debt and have a nontraditional business, and incredible sense of meaning and purpose in my work, and far more income than I did back in those days.

Remember, it's usually in the midst of muck and mess that the conditions for rebirth are being created.

"That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten." (Joel 1:4 KJV)

"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you." (Joel 2:25 KJV)