It's Hard to Be Humble

“Ah, yes, the parallel bars.
“I was known as the Pavlova of the parallels. Oh, yes.
[Starts swinging on the bars.]
“Yes, It’s all coming back now.
[Sings]
“Ah, yes, I remember it. . .
[Loses grip and falls down the stairs smashing a piano]
Aagh! Well, that felt good!”

Like Inspector Clouseau, I too have a special skill acquired in my youth. I can ride a unicycle. A neighbor down the street had one and I fell in love with it. I wanted one so badly. But my Dad would not buy me one unless I first learned how to ride one. Well, that’s kind of a catch 22.

So, the neighbor boy let me borrow his for a few days. I practiced for hours after school. I fell a lot. I had a lot of skinned knees and hands. But by the end of the week I could ride that unicycle with the best of circus clowns. I called my Dad to watch as I rode down the driveway, to the corner (we were the second house in so this was not too far) and back. Ha! I called his bluff and now he had to pay up. That weekend we went to the Schwinn bicycle shop and he bought me a shiny chrome unicycle of my very own.

Flash forward 20 some-odd years to Christmas 2003. The family was celebrating Christmas at my parents’ house and my nieces received a pogo-stick for Christmas. Well, we all had to go out on the driveway to give the stick a try. We had one as kids, so this was a skill I had as well. (I am very skilled at many useless things). There were all sorts of contests and someone went to find the old pogo-stick. We found it and the contests grew more fierce. (If you’ve ever seen grown men try to out pogo each other it is a sad and hilarious sight all at the same time.)

Well, I don’t have to tell you what else was in that closet – my unicycle. A few pumps of air later and I was ready to roll. “Ah, the unicycle. Yes. It’s all coming back now. . .” You know how this story ends. (Childhood skills ain’t all Clouseau and I have in common.) I tried to show(off) to my nieces how to ride a unicycle. I was not on that thing 5 seconds before it went one way and I went another. I think my eyes teared-up before my butt hit the concrete. I tried to pop right up “Aagh, Well, that felt good” Clouseau style. But my pride and my backside were killing me.

A few days later I was putting my blow-dryer away in a bottom drawer and suddenly I could not stand up past 90 degrees. The pain was searing. Have you ever gone to the doctor and on the form where it states “reason for visit” written “unicycle incident”? Humiliating. Not my finest hour. And all because I was being a big shot and showing off.

Luckily, Peter knew better than Clouseau and me. The disciples were in a boat in a storm and afraid. (Matt. 14:25-29) When they saw Jesus, first they thought he was a ghost but after He identified Himself, Peter called to Him and asked Jesus to command him to get out and come to Him. Which Jesus did. Now, Peter, upon realizing it was Jesus, could have just jumped out of the boat saying “See ya!” to the guys, thinking that he could walk on water just because Jesus could.

But Peter didn’t do that. He humbled himself and calmly got out of the boat and walked over to his friend – on the water. If Peter had done it any other way, all proud and sassy, I guarantee you when his feet hit the water he would have sunk like a stone. In fact, he did start to sink when he started to lose faith in Jesus. (Matt.14:30) Peter only had the skill to walk on the water because he was humble and faithful enough to allow Jesus to help him.

Clearly this is advice I could have used that Christmas morning. A humble heart and a little Holy Ghost help would have kept me upright. And my tailbone in tact. Humility – it is a skill I am reminded I need to practice more often every time it gets cold and “the rheumatism” flares up.

Did I mention it was 39 degrees today?

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