When I was young, maybe about 4 or 5 years old, we had a collection of different board games in our house. I only had one sibling that lived with me, a girl at that. As you could guess, we had different toys that we played with. She was Bratz & Barbie dolls, and I was Hot Wheelz and G.I. Joes. The board games, however, were based on age and not gender. I remember us having Candyland (kinda boring), but one game I'll never forget is Chutes & Ladders. Even my own mother enjoyed this game with us when she could, as I grew up in a single parent household for a majority of my adolescence up until I moved out when I was 18. The object of Chutes & Ladders was this: Get your character to the top of the board, using the various ladders positioned amongst it. The catch was that just as there was various ladders, there were also various slides (or chutes) amongst the board as well. As fast as you climbed the tallest ladder, you could very well find yourself at the bottom at the longest slide. Very spirited & spontaneous game in my household for sure.
In my 20 year old lens, there are many areas in our life where it is a condensed version of Chutes & Ladders. Careers, relationships, health, & even faith often are peaks & valleys. I think there's a common thread of humility throughout all of those facets. Reason being is that with those sectors of our lives that I named off, we often become less humble as we get closer to the top; whatever our image of the top is. In my season in life, I find myself not humbling myself in my relationships. In one, I may feel like I'm on the the tallest ladder. Fastest route to victory. In others, I feel like I'm on the biggest chute, starting all the way from the beginning it feels. In reality, for both scenarios, it very well could be the opposite. The big ladder I think I'm climbing may just be a short one. That big chute may position me right next to a big ladder that I wouldn't have been by, had I not traveled downwards. It's very interesting to me how people become so confused and distraught at how their lives humble them after they would be exalting themselves. "Things were going so well, then _____ happened! I thought I was on the right track!" That image oftentimes makes me think about how a football player begins to celebrate about the 15-20 yard line. Not knowing that a defender is closing in behind them attempting to, as the kids would say: catch him slippin'. Or even the three pointer by Nick Young, who turns and celebrates before he even sees it go in, only to turn around and realize you're on the wrong end of a fast break. It's exactly that: we quickly revert our offense to defense. Oftentimes, in an unprepared manner.
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who habitually humbles himself will be exalted."
- Luke 14:11
I'll venture to say that Jesus Christ was the most humble individual who ever graced the face of this Earth. Hands down, no comparison. It was indeed Christ who stated this, and being in the Christian faith, we are called to conform to the image of Christ. In context of this think-piece, Christ is saying this: Take a chute before you take a ladder. Again, for myself personally, it isn't the easiest exercise to bear on a day to day basis. I oftentimes find myself being prideful in who I have in my life, what I do, how I do it, and so on and so forth. This is the flip side of it: If you take a ladder before you take a chute, you will still take a chute. Wow. So you're saying that you're going to take a chute regardless? Yes. So what should I do? Be comfortable taking the chute. You never know what will be positioned by you to travel up the board of life. In this life, we will have to humble ourselves before our parents, our managers, our significant others, and even our own peers. Humble pie is usually not sweet. Jesus willingly had a few slices Himself on Calvary. Which begs the question: what stops us from humbling ourselves?
Yesterday at work, I came across an individual who betrayed me. Stole from me and helped me look for what he knew was stolen. Only to find out he stood with the thieves and was related to them. You know how much that hurt to see that person's face? To know that person's family knows yours and they took you in and fed you? Or even this: A former significant other who has a bad habit of "flaking out" on arrangements set, not making concrete plans and often having to make out rain checks. This person had before missed a birthday of mine in the past. Wait, one more, speaking of birthdays: A parent who posts a "grandchild" that didn't come from her own children on her child's 20th birthday on social media. Am I getting too personal? So what. I say this to show you that no matter how many ladders you want to take, chutes cannot be avoided. Period. I'm not gonna sit here and act like I didn't want to retaliate against these individuals, but these individuals were still useful. Why? Because it helped me to understand if I humble myself now at a low point (bottom of the board), I would be exalted later (top of the board, e.g. Heaven, success, prosperity, peace, etc.). It isn't for the simple fact that you will be exalted, it's the act of humility that builds the muscle of always taking the chute. You remember when you were at the park and you would have the most fun doing down the slide, and you'd be annoyed that you'd have to climb the ladder to even get back to it? That's the way we have to attack and create the humility within ourselves and knowing that the serving of humble pie is indeed inevitable. But will you eat it with a smile?
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