“when you are invited to a banquet, you should not choose the seat reserved for honored guests, lest someone of greater importance arrive and the host asks you to give up your seat, causing you embarrassment. Instead, you should take the lowest seat so that the host may later invite you to move to a place of honor, thereby honoring you in the presence of the other guests.”
When I was still in college, I truly felt a deep sense of emptiness within myself. My life felt incomplete, and I constantly felt that I would fail no matter what I did. My grades in college were low, and although I wanted to improve them, I simply could not. I remember my classmate back then, Jerome Castillo. He was highly intelligent and was always at the top of the class. He was the best English speaker among all the people I knew at that time. I admired him greatly. Sometimes our class period would almost end, yet the English discussion between him and our teacher would still be ongoing. I often asked myself, “Why can’t I speak English well while others seem to do it so easily? There must be something wrong with me!” I blurted out.
The truth was that I learned woodcarving at a young age because my father owned a workshop back then. I really loved carving when I was younger. I would often watch my cousin carve until I eventually learned the craft myself when I was only twelve years old. The unfortunate part was that my father eventually stopped hiring woodcarvers for his workshop because he already had me to do the work. I became the one he regularly assigned to carve the household items and other projects he needed. Sometimes, even when I had classes, he would intentionally prevent me from attending because he needed me to carve something urgently. There were also times when he would tell me, “People go to school so they can find work. You already know how to carve, so you don’t need to keep going to school. As long as you know how to read and write, that’s enough.”
When I entered college, I was truly lacking the academic foundation that should have been built during high school. This became an obstacle to my desire to excel in class. At that time, I hardly studied at all. Aside from being somewhat lazy when it came to studying, most of my time was consumed by woodcarving. This greatly contributed to my poor performance in college. To make matters worse, my father and I would argue almost every night. My father could be very hurtful with his words, especially when he was drunk, although when he was sober he was usually very quiet. However, there were also times when he would suddenly become aggressive whenever he heard something he did not like. My father was also known for being a formidable fighter, which was why many people were afraid of him. He once defeated five men armed with machetes using only his chisel without a handle. So it’s really not easy to go against him.
When I was only eleven years old, my aunt and her two children came to live with us. Because of this, my mother’s temper grew shorter and shorter. My aunt was rather lazy and rarely helped with the household chores, not even with simple tasks like washing the dishes. As a result, tension developed within our home. My mother and father frequently quarreled because my father would always take my aunt’s side, along with that of her two children. This is also one of the things that had burdened me. There was one time when my father took away the plate of vegetable soup right from my mouth and gave it to my aunt’s youngest child. I took that incident deeply to heart. Whenever my father and I had an argument, in which he used call me a fool, this childhood memory would flash back into my mind. It triggered me to talk back angrily to him. There was even a time when, after a heated argument, my father hurled a container filled with six gallons of water at me twice in a row. (That how strong my father was, he could throw a heavy thing). Since I saw them coming, I was able to dodge them. After he hurled the containers at me, I charged at him, and we confronted each other face to face, both ready to strike. Had my mother not fainted from worry and fear, one or both of us could have been seriously injured.
After my father established a furniture shop by the roadside, he started getting drunk every night. In my view, this was what made his temperament increasingly irritable, causing him to constantly look for quarrels with the rest of his family. And this change in his behavior deeply disheartened me. I found it extremely difficult to deal with the harsh and aggressive way he treated me and the other members of our household. “Perhaps I am losing my mind,” I said to myself.
Then I remembered what our Lord said in the Bible, “I am wisdom”. Before I knew it, I found myself digging into the Bible. As I read and studied the Bible, I repeatedly encountered passages that taught humility. I was not naturally the sort of person who put on airs. Yet, perhaps because I was still inexperienced in many ways, I could not completely avoid displaying a little pride now and then. Sometimes I was also influenced by close friends who had a tendency to put on airs, and their affectation would rub off on me, causing a bit of pride to emerge in my own behavior. Perhaps another reason is that we sometimes think that if we humble ourselves, other people will respect us less. Because of this, we are often reluctant to practice true humility.
If we carefully examine the character of Jesus Christ during His time on earth, we will see that He made Himself the perfect example of humility. From the very moment He entered this world, He chose to be born in a manger. As He grew up, He did not seek the company of the rich; instead, He associated with the poor. And when He had gathered disciples around Him, He demonstrated the importance of humility by washing their feet. Jesus also taught His followers humility through parables and examples. In His teachings, He showed that humility is one of the virtues that enables a person to enter the gates of Heaven. As He said in Matthew 23:12, those who exalt themselves will be humbled, while those who humble themselves will be exalted. Christ also taught in Luke 14:8–10, when you are invited to a banquet, you should not choose the seat reserved for honored guests, lest someone of greater importance arrive and the host asks you to give up your seat, causing you embarrassment. Instead, you should take the lowest seat so that the host may later invite you to move to a place of honor, thereby honoring you in the presence of the other guests.
After two years of studying on my own, reading extensively, and examining various writings, I gradually realized that I had learned how to express my thoughts more effectively through words. Though I did not consider myself proficient, the progress I had made greatly contributed to my growth as a writer. For this reason, I encourage everyone to practice humility, so that God may extend His grace to you. For it is through His mercy that the deficiencies in our character and abilities are supplied, enabling us to become better than we once were.
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Cebuano Version of this post: Ang Bili sa Pagpaubus