Discovered T in B's Humility Practice

There are many elderly folks in my home church. I was always fascinated by two elderly couples: Mr. & Mrs. T, and Mr. & Mrs. K. Mr. T is an extremely quiet brother. All information I gathered about him was from third party source: he was a cook at a theological school in HK for a long period of time before he retired and migrated to Canada. I never hear him chatting. Even when replying, it was in short and simple form. However, when comes to prayer (in prayer’s meeting), he was so fluent and so devoted. Mrs. T was a very amiable lady, one can feel peace just sitting around her. When I overheard her speaking to other elder folks in church, the content was so sweet, concerned and gentle. I still recall one summer my husband and I were giving a ride for them and Mrs. Tang to a summer camp. They were really quiet sitting at the back of the car, and only Mrs. T occasionally softly chatted with Mr. T, and Mr. T being the sole listener as I can’t really hear the content, as the audience obviously wasn’t targeted towards my husband and I. My husband commented that he seldom see old folks so un-nagging, complain-less, and gossip-less.

They attracted my attention very much. In the past years, I just quietly observe and ponder.

Today I continue on reading a book written by Richard Foster: Prayer – Finding the Heart’s True Home. When I read to pg. 60 the subtitle of “The Twelve Steps of Saint Benedict”, it dawned on me Mr. & Mrs. T was practicing “humility” (not common definition of “humility” as defined by the world, but “to live as close to the truth as possible; the truth about ourselves, the truth about others, the truth about the world in which we live” (pg. 61) ). “…cultivate silence, avoid frivolous talk, and use plain, simple speech…” (pg. 62).