Walking Humbly

I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time trying to figure out everything I have to do.  Yes, I have a calendar and a to-do list here and there with my responsibilities on them, but keeping them updated and prioritizing them can be a real hassle, especially when immediate tasks arise that throw off my schedule.  Then, there's always the possibility that my electronic calendars don't sync as fast as I think they do, and I end up accidentally scheduling myself to be in multiple places at once.  How fortunate I am that, in the midst of all of this worry about what is required of me, I should come across this passage:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God?
                     -Micah 6:8

I may not get every minute detail of my schedule done every day, but I can definitely make sure that, whatever I'm doing, it is falls into at least one of these three categories.

Do Justice
I admit that there are many different perceptions of what justice means out there.  I think, however, that the heart of this matter is to deal with ourselves and others as fairly as possible.  To do this, we must learn to see more than just action and consequence.  Also, we must learn to accept that, ultimately, God's justice is the only justice that really matters.

Love Kindnes
The word kindness here should not be confused with phrases like "be kind, rewind."  This is not about being nice.  The word used here is the same word that is used to express God's loving kindness to us.  Loving kindness is about honoring this relationship that we all have with God, knowing that every relationship is different.

Walk Humbly
This last requirement is about our egos.  It is all too easy to get to a certain point in our lives and start expecting that we deserve, or have earned, everything that we have.  Sometimes, we can even feel that we should have more.  The truth is, we can never earn God's love.  There is no point in our lives in which we will deserve God's love outside of God's desire to love us.

Today, and every day, I invite you to live out these requirements.  Do justice.  Love kindness.  Walk humbly with your God.