Humility Comes before Honour

Do not underestimate how a big lesson can be taught through a small mistake.

So today I worked at A&W. I was assigned to work early in the morning to open the save and supervise the day shift. Opening the save was supposed to be an easy task and I thought I should be able to handle this since I had done this once before, and I had copied down all the instructions. Therefore, with much confidence, I attempted to open the save.

The first time, I could not open. The second time, I could not open. The third time, fourth, fifth ... I started to get a bit frustrated. I wondered why the save wasn't behaving. I intended to keep trying until the save would open for me. But in the end, I still had to call my mom (who was also the store manager) for help because not only I could not get it open regardless how I tried, there was some troubleshoot to the debit machines.

Anyhow, mom dropped by to see what the problems were (she was supposed to have a day off today). After she fixed the debit machines, she asked me to perform how to open the save. I did what I thought it should be, and immediately she spotted one error I made - I overdid one of the steps. URGH! When the problem was finally realized, I slammed the door shut and started crying. At the moment I felt I was totally incompetent because I couldn't perform such a small task! Not only that, I have already made many errors since I started my supervisor training!

Later in the day I realized my grumpiness was silly. Well, it was hard to prevent given the rough situation, but I thought I should be humble and willing to accept making mistakes. I should not be too confident about (or to pressure myself to) doing everything 100%, especially when I am still new to this position.

Thank You, Lord, for such an invaluable lesson today.

敗壞之先，人心驕傲；尊榮以前，必有謙卑。 ﹝箴言 18:12﹞
Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honour. (Proverbs 18:12)

幽谷之舞 Dance in the Valley

This song came to my mind as I had devotions last night. I thought I would share it for encouragement. Translations are provided for those who can't read Chinese (though not the best translations ...). :-)

幽谷之舞 Dance in the Valley
曲/詞 Words and Music by: Terence Leung

神你的光 光照我
使我一生不再徬徨
從你的恩典 我竟得釋放
我的心不再慌

效法施洗約翰一生宣告
主原是這光
叫靈魂 不再失喪
凡接待祂的 此際要奔往

從你從我的一生 可以見到
主的拖帶 沒有卻步
幽谷可以跳舞 患難裡總不跌倒
急風雖會臨到 我未會迷途

開心失意亦要祈禱
深知主領著我每步
幽谷可以跳舞 患難裡總不跌倒
天天緊靠耶穌 人生怎會枯躁

Lord, Your Light shines upon me
So I would not be lost
By Your grace I have freedom
I do not fear anymore

Like John the Baptist, we should proclaim that
God is the Light
To reach the lost souls
Anyone who receives Him will be free

We can see from our lives that
God's guidance never stops
We can dance in the valley, for we will not fall during adversities
Difficulties will come but we will not be lost

We should pray whether we are happy or unhappy
Because we know God will guide our footsteps
We can dance in the valley, for we will not fall during adversities
Follow Jesus closely, and our lives will be not be dry.