Word of the Year 2020 – Meekness

I’m staring down the barrel of 2020 and trying to get a jump on the year so I’ve been thinking of my word of the year and what I want to focus on.  As I”ve prayed and meditated, I keep getting a vision of horses and being impressed by their strength and control which has conjured the word “MEEK” in my heart.  Jesus was “meek.”  He said the meek shall inherit the earth.  That sounds like a good deal to me…so I’m down for acquiring the quality of “meekness” in 2020.

“The origin of “meek” in English comes from the Old Norse mjukr, meaning “gentle,” though perhaps a fuller understanding comes from the Greek origin, praus, which is translated as “strength under control.” In ancient Greece, war horses were trained to be meek — strong and powerful yet under control and willing to submit.”  (from https://www.mattnorman.com/meek/)

The passage from the book of Job that is quoted in the movie above is from verses 39:19-25…

“Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane? Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting? It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray. It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.”

It is such a powerful, poetic picture of strength, don’t you think?  I’ve been around a few horses and their strength has always fascinated me.   They are so muscular and sculpted – to be respected for sure, yet they are mostly gentle and congenial creatures.  Their potential energy is infectious.  You can just feel their energy when you stand in their presence.

I’ve also seen a few horses be unruly, though.  Even downright mean.  I remember taking my family horse riding in Crested Butte, Colorado one summer when we were on vacation.  Our cowboy guide was saddling up one of the horses named “Scooby Doo” for my daughter.  He helped my daughter into the saddle as I watched sitting on another horse behind her.  He leaned over to give the saddle strap one more, strong “pull” to ensure it was tight and as he turned his back towards Scooby’s head, the horse snapped around and violently bit the cowboy right on his side!  “Son of a b!%(#!!!” he screamed in pain.  He stepped away from the horse and pulled his shirt up to reveal a dark blue and purple contusion right on his love handle in the shape of Scooby’s teeth.  OUCH.

I also remember being at a similar ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming one summer when my brother and me were kids.  Our parents had taken us to a dude ranch and we were heading out on a similar horse riding adventure.  My brother couldn’t have been more than 9 or 10 years old.  We were walking the horses lazily though a wooded area in a long, single-file line, each of us on our own horse.  I think my dad was ahead of my brother, then me, then my mom bringing up the rear.  Suddenly, something spooked my brother’s horse and it just bolted.  It ran right past every other horse in the line, past the guide and out across an open meadow like his tail was on fire.  We were all stunned and just kind of sat there on our horses helplessly watching my brother holding on for dear life, screaming for help.  Looking back on it now, it’s kind of funny actually, but I know for him at that moment it must have been terrifying.  The horse’s strength could not be trusted.  

As I think back on those kinds of experiences with horses, I ask myself, “Can my strength be trusted?”  If I’m honest, not always.  Ashamedly, I’ve used my presence, my emotions, my words (never my physical body) to be harsh to others.  I’ve snapped and bitten others with my words and hurt them, leaving unseen contusions on their hearts and souls.  I’ve carried others away emotionally and spiritually when I reacted in fear or anger and scared them in the process.  I’ve stepped on soft, unprotected toes with my heavy hooves and left marks that they won’t forget.  I can definitely allow my strength to be misused and to hurt others if I’m not spiritually fit.  I don’t want to be that way.  I want my strength to be trusted by others, especially my wife, family and friends.  God is working on that in me.

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”  Ephesians 4:2

But here’s an even more important question for me to ask myself as a man:

“What will I do with my strength when the trumpet sounds?”  

Will I use it to advance God’s kingdom?  Will I use it to help others?  Will I use it to follow along the sometimes difficult and rocky path God has hewn out for me?  Will I allow it to infect and inspire others for good as well?  Will I be faithful in the manner in which I exercise my strength?  Will my strength remain controlled?

Self-control is a fruit of the spirit (see Galatians 5:23).  As long as I am willing to stay spiritually fit, to do the things daily that I know will keep me dependent on Jesus, moment-by-moment, breath-by-breath…my strength can be trusted.  Because it’s not really my  strength at all in the first place.  It is Jesus’ strength in me.  And he can always be trusted.

My word for 2020 is…

Meekness.

“…the quality of STRENGTH under CONTROL.”

So this year, I will work out spiritually to achieve a notable measure of “meekness.”  I accept it.  I embrace it.  I want it to be the overarching characteristic of my life in 2020,  I want to face every life situation knowing, without a doubt, that I AM BULLETPROOF STRONG and that strength can be trusted by others…to be kind, gentle, helpful, protective, loyal.  Just like Jesus is to me.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I don’t have to act like I’m strong.  I don’t have to act like I have it all together.  I just need to rely on Jesus and draw my strength from him. 

Apart from him, I can do nothing.   

Here is my prayer for 2020…

“God, I acknowledge and accept the strength you’ve given me.  I pray for self-control to use that strength to achieve your will and not my own.  Make me MEEK with the strength you’ve given me under control and used for your purposes. I pray for readiness for when the trumpet sounds and you call me into the fray.  May I respond with all of my strength to love others the way you love me. 

May you strengthen me as I rely on you to do your will always. Amen.”

Oh yeah.  The guide ended up chasing down the runaway horse with my brother still on it, gripping its mane in fear.  He was fine…other than needing a little counseling when he got into his 40’s.

But then again, who doesn’t right?  🙂