I have heard it said that "the poor in spirit" has nothing to do with physical poverty. But seems to me that physical poverty usually points us to our spiritual poverty. To know what it is to be among the poor and oppressed .... to be unable to help yourself leads many to turn to God.
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Lord help me ... the helpless .... physical lack speaks to our spiritual lack .... our need. We have to realize it before we understand that we need God. It is indeed harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Wealth and success tend to mask our personal need. We have an air of self sufficiency ... we are blind to the spiritual underpinnings God provides to our lives until God shakes it up. Then like Humpty Dumpty we lie broken and shattered on the floor with no hope of repair .... hope in God.
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Consider the male, female relationship. A woman projects power and self sufficiency and many a man has walked away with his hands in his pockets ..... "There is no room for me here". Part of what allows a man to "step up" for a woman is her fragility .... her need of him. Not neediness but a wholesome reality that men and women compliment and need each other .... and we appreciate that. Men too should honor and recognize that he was created to be incomplete without woman. So it is with God .... he is moved by our need of him. Our cry for help does not go unanswered. He is ready and willing to fill our poverty with his sufficiency. And we give him honor for that.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
* The above picture is a gift from Clerice. He is keeping an eye out for Samura. Clerice has agreed to be my translator when I teach the little girls class on my return to Haiti. Thank you to my partner Clerice. I could not do this without you.
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