The Blessing of Humility

Proverbs 22:4 “True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor and long life.”

I am reading a book about a famous actor named Danny Trejo entitled, “Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood”.  You may know him from movies like ‘Machete’, ‘Spy Kids’, ‘Con Air’ and many more. This man has an amazing story. There is one that he shares with us I think goes well with this scripture.

Danny talks about how he and a friend had a lawncare business going. He and his friend would make money cutting yards for people in different neighborhoods.  In one neighborhood there lived a woman whose yard needed help. Danny knew this woman had fallen on really bad times. One of her son’s died while serving in the military. Another son passed from street violence and her husband committed suicide. 

Danny spoke of this woman never coming out of her home.  One day Danny and his friend decided to cut her yard and fix it up on their own. Every time they cut yards in that neighborhood, they would cut hers for free. One day, two months later, Danny said they were cutting her yard and they heard the front door open and close.  He said that they went around to see what was going on and they found a crystal pitcher of Iced Tea and two crystal glasses.  He made a comment in his book about how the tea tasted drinking out of that crystal glass, from a woman that had been through so much. This was the blessing of the blessed. Now comes the trial.

Danny talks in his book about another situation that was birthed from this act of kindness he and his friend did for this woman. A man walked up to them one day. A tall man chewing tobacco approached Danny and said, “Paco, how much you chargin’ that lady to do her yard?” Danny said he was offended by the man calling him that name and he did not respond. The man asked again, “Paco, how much is she paying you?”

Instead of Danny becoming upset and allowing the situation to become racially motivated he responds, “Nothing.” Danny writes, that the man’s face changed after he said this. The man asked Danny and his friend to follow him to his home.  They get to the man’s house in front of his garage, and he opens it. To their amazement they see all types of lawn care equipment, most of them new. The man says, “I had a heart attack recently and my wife won’t let me do any work around the house. If you cut my yard, I’ll give you everything in here.”

Because Danny and his friend blessed a widow who had lost everything, they were shown appreciation in the form of cold iced tea on a hot day. And because Danny stayed humble in the face of insult, degradation and oppression, the Lord blessed him with new equipment for his lawn care business from a man he did not know and who did not know him.  Danny writes in his book that after that, the man never called him Paco again and they are friends to this day.

​We all have the opportunity that Danny Trejo had that day when we face racism, oppression, and humiliation. When we realize that God is bigger than all of that; and He has our gift of reward, riches, and honor in His hand ready to give us when we righteously represent Him. And because He created us with purpose, ‘eternal life’ is in store for all of us. This is the blessing He has promised us.

May God bless and keep you in His peace as you walk in Jesus’ name,

​Amen

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