There was a man who lived a very prideful life. Everyone in town avoided him for the shark he was.  He had no friends, but didn’t seem to mind because he had his sights on worldly wealth and counted that as success. He knew better.

Then one day, an angel appeared before the man on behalf of his love for the man for his spiritual growth and personal growth.

The man was frightened and tried to run away.  But each time he ran, the angel was there waiting for him.  Finally the man gave up and asked exhaustively, “Who are you and what do you want from me?”

The angel handed him a book. In the book was the answer to his biggest problem.  The man wanted the book very much. With the book, he knew he would learn how to have more wealth.  The angel took the book back and said, ” You may have the contents of this book under one condition. ”

“What is that?” the man asked.

“Tomorrow, find one small way to show humility.

Do it. Then return here each night telling me of your experience. But there is a warning. Do not do it, and the requirement will be added upon.”

“That’s it?” said the man, “sounds very easy. I’ll do it and you will be very impressed.”

The man left knowing how easy this was going to be and how he would have the book to solve his greatest problem. He was sure this would make him rich.

The next day, the man thought of how much humility he demonstrated

because he bent over and helped a woman retrieve a dropped coin.  He made sure others around him saw his humble act as he grasped the coin. Not to mention, he had to get his fingers dirty to pick it out of the dust. Surely this was what the angel was talking about. He was excited to share with the angel his act of humility and retrieve the answer from the book.  He could just see the money and fame coming towards him.

That night the man returned to tell the angel of his great humility and to retrieve the book.

He excitedly  and demonstratively showed the angel of how he bent over and gallantly picked up the woman’s coin. He even mentioned that he was in a hurry and stopped to help the woman and how his hands became dirty from the act.

The man held out his hand to receive the book from the angel.  The angel lovingly said, “Tomorrow find two ways to show humility. Return and tell me, and I will give you the book.”

This made the man very angry.  “You mean to tell me you will not give me the book to solve my biggest problem after all I did for that woman yesterday?”

The angel just stood still, smiling at the man.

The man was very irritated.  Out of pride, he decided he would show this angel how he does not quit and he could surly show humility two times tomorrow.

The next day, the man saw a boy carrying a heavy load. In a booming voice, the man announced that he would carry the load to his destination. He looked around and saw several people watching while he lifted the load to the porch.  He reached out his hand and told the boy with a firm hand shake how glad he was he could be of such great service to him and how grateful he must be to have had the load lifted to the porch with his help.

Needless to say, the next act of humility looked very much the same way.  The  man was now very anxious to tell the angel of his two larger acts of humility.

Upon telling the angel , the man pantomimed the lifting of the load and added that he got a little sweaty and soiled his white shirt carrying the load.  With confidence, the man reached out his hand to take the book.

But again, the angel calmly stood there and told him to find four ways to show humility. The man, wanting the book, conceded in a huff.  Day after day, he performed his magnanimous acts of humility  and returned to the angel and night after night, the angel gave him more to do.

At this point the man was livid. He jumped, ranted, screamed, and blamed the angel for all of his problems and frustration.  This went on for hours until finally he fell asleep on the ground, completely spent.

In the morning dirty, tear stained and rumpled, the man stood up.  The angel was no longer there. He got up and went into town. He was so tired he didn’t care what people thought of him, he only wanted to go home.

On the way home he saw an old man confused not knowing which way to turn to get to the market. The man stopped briefly, gave him directions and started to walk off.  As the man was walking off, he saw that the elderly man was not making the correct turn.  The man walked towards the older gentleman and walked with him all the way inside the store.

As the man was leaving the store, he felt something he had never quite felt before-

a new perspective true spiritual growth.

He saw the elderly gentleman as perfect.  He saw the gentleman’s heart. He felt his goodness. He saw his struggles and had compassion.  He saw the man as great.

That night, the man did not return to the angel to retrieve the book.  He no longer wanted or needed anything that would solve what he thought was his biggest problem. He had solved it.

Personal growth and spiritual growth is impossible with out humility.

Problems are not solvable from the same level of being that created the problem. In order to improve or solve a problem you may have, it is needed that you solve it from a higher perspective, with a higher view than the view or state you were in to get the problem in the first place.  Problems are gifts in these ways. They force us to lift ourselves up, work and stretch.  Humility is always the key.

Humility

is ironically attained by those who are spiritually great. The beautiful thing is that we are all perfect inside, we just need the opportunity to uncover it.  It is uncovered through lessons.  The faster we learn the lesson, we faster we progress. We learn the lessons faster through exercising humility.  If we miss the lesson, the Universe will continue to give us more chances, increasing the pressure until it is learned.

So great humility is needed for spiritual and personal growth,there is no other way.

We may not otherwise be committed to our personal growth with out a nagging or painful problem that will cause us to do what ever it takes to solve it and relieve the pain or nuisance. We finally give in and BOOM, we have spiritual growth.

The result is spiritual and personal growth.

Another point is that once we grow and have more humility and a higher perspective we often see that what we once thought was the worst thing that could be plaguing us was really no problem at all. Or what we thought was of greatest importance, no longer matters.

Want to be happier and see things for what they really are? – Seek your own personal growth, allow humility, make that the highest priority in your life- the rest takes care of itself, INCLUDING your bank account. Take care.