The Meek shall inherit the Earth

It seems to me, this line from the sermon on the mount, is a misunderstood statement. Too many people equate meek with weak, as if it is synonymous.

It is not.

A person who is meek is strong but chooses to restrain their inherent power. (This is one of the Beatitudes. The word meek is used in the King James Version, the word used in the International Standard Version is humble. Matthew 5:5 for those who look up such things.)

If you want an enlightening study, go through the bible and find all the unnamed servants. Look at these humble, hard-working persons with the view that they are representing the Spirit of God. These are the meek.

What are stories? They are recounting events in people’s lives, right?

But, you may say, some stories aren’t true, they are fiction. Well, this is not entirely true. The story may be true, but the names have been changed “to protect the innocent”. (Sometimes the innocent being the author who wishes to remain litigation free.)

Here is the crux: a story may be true or false. Or a little of both.

Story telling is an art. It is one we all use. Some are better at it than others. Some make a good living telling stories.

This reminds me of a friend of mine back in my “College Career Group” days. He came up with some pretty funny jokes which nobody laughed at. I noticed this and so, when I would hear his quip, I would wait a moment, then I would repeat it to the same group.

We both were amazed at how the group would laugh when I repeated the joke only a moment after he originated it. This really did hurt my friend. I tried to console him by saying it was simply timing and delivery of the joke. The fact is, I didn’t really understand at the time.

In hind sight, I see it was because he did not reach a level of true acceptance in the group. This was because he was a little different, so was ignored as being an outcast. He was allowed to attend the meetings because he had to be ‘accepted’ in the group, because it was a church group.

It is tragic how people in groups claiming to be an outreach to all will allow people to ‘join’ but never truly accept them.

A sad indictment.