Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Meeking



St. George: Wikimedia Commons



An old English word used for training a horse is "meeking". I wasn't aware of the word meeking at all until a few years back when, much to my humiliation (and note the word humiliation), a women gifted with discerning the spiritual gifts of others informed me (yes, she actually got a word of knowledge about it) that God was "meeking" me. Lacking meekness, my mind immediately pushed aside the words she had spoken about my spiritual gifts and zoned right in on the "meeking"...lol. Let's just say my face felt hot and flushed and I couldn't wait to get out of there.

But she was right. The next three years were the hardest of my spiritual life as this meeking process
began and continues to this day. Imagine if you can constant correction by both God...and others. Many of you probably CAN imagine it because you've been through it yourselves. The saints warn us about this stuff and we assume they are exaggerating.

Oh yes...God uses others to correct us. It loses its sting after a while but I'm not going to lie and say it's an easy process. It helps to know that this is a stage of the spiritual life that very few are exempt from.

If you fight the correction...it gets worse. I kid you not. If you don't accept the correction humbly it's as if all hell breaks loose and everybody and their brother begins noticing every little (okay...big)
fault and peculiarity you have.

What I didn't understand then was that meeking was a good thing. Meeking isn't meant to strip the power from a horse but rather to harness that power so it can be used in a more purposeful manner. Meeking, as ugly as it sounds, leaves a person with a pliable and teachable spirit and this is something that we want. Without this teachable spirit it's very difficult to make much spiritual progress.

I guess I should have thanked God for the advance warning that He was doing this but I would have been lying through my teeth if I had said I was grateful for it back then. Even today the thank you is forced through slightly gritted teeth.

A great help to me was Archbishop Fenelon's book Let Go. Even the chapter titles spoke to me:

"Sensitivity to Reproof is the Surest Sign We Needed it."

Ouch.

Or how about this:

"Your ego can neither be convinced nor forced into submission by any other means; it is always finding secret lines of supply from your own courage; it is always discovering impenetrable retreats in your own cleverness."

I felt bad for the poor guy just thinking of what he must have gone through to get such a deep understanding of our innate stubbornness.

Oh, and a word to the wise:

Never automatically agree with everyone just to get this spiritual stage over with.

Trust me on this one...it doesn't work.

What do you mean how do I know?

(grin)


20 comments:

  1. I had never heard of the term meeking but it makes a lot of sense. Only recently have I begun to understand that it was good when this friend or that friend pointed out my deficiencies. In my heart I knew they were right, but I didn't want to admit it to myself and so I guess that whatever happens to us is good in some way no matter how much we fight it. We have to get meek one way or another. Great post!

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  2. Mary,

    I must admit that I like my deficiencies pointed out in a kind way. Some people's idea of meeking cuts very deep. I guess all correction hurts, especially for people like me that tend to think they're almost perfect just the way they are! Meeking? I love that word!

    God bless!

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  3. Love the Archbishop's quote. So true! Meeking is a gift though we don't often accept it as one.

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  4. Mary...I really am not ignoring you but haven't been in a blogging mode lately...just here and there. I am reading along though.

    I like the term *meeking*...well...I certainly could use some of that being the opposite of angry and proud. God has been giving me the graces but I got a long way to go.

    Love *Let Go*...so glad you recommended that to me. I need to go back to that.

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  5. I've never heard the term meeking before. I suspect, in this context, it means accepting whatever God sends our way as obediently as possible. Not always easy I think.

    A bit like Praising God in all things, no matter how bad they might be. We Praise Him because He is still in control and in charge of events happening to us and others around us. And in Praising Him we open a channel for God to turn things to the good. I've seen it many times.

    This is a great post Mary. Thank you.

    God bless.

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  6. Great insight, also never heard of meeking before but I'd say the word is right on with the definition. :)

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  7. Mary, I too have not heard of that term. Wonderful post of insight dear one. Blessings.

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  8. Hi Monica,
    If a good friend does it in the right way it can be helpful. Of course, there are wrong ways of doing it too :) Glad you liked the post!

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  9. Hi Sue,
    I have to admit the same :) I'm working on another post that differentiates the "meeking" process from attacks on who someone is as a person. One is always wrong while the other can be helpful.
    God bless you too!

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  10. Hi Anabelle,
    It sure doesn't feel like a gift sometimes ;) The book "Let Go" is a favorite of mine - I love his blunt manner.

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  11. Hi Theresa,
    I can relate - there are times I'm not in blogging mode either. And I suspect that we all have a long way to go. I know I do. That's okay though, some things can't be rushed.

    I hope you are feeling better!

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  12. Hi Victor,
    Yes, I think that explains it well. And I agree that it's not easy. Thanks for your comment!

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  13. Hi Shelly,
    It was the first time I had heard of it too. This incident happened while I was attending a prayer group at Immaculate Conception :) I had no idea that it was going to happen so it kind of caught me off guard...lol.

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  14. Hi Grace,
    Strange word but I guess I understand it better than I used to. God bless!

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  15. I never heard the word "meeking" before, but I have a good friend who trained horses for twenty years. In reading her book about horse training and how God works with us, it seems a perfect description of what she did. Have you been "meeked" today? Might be a great question to ask ourselves. What's great about this is that it's a sign of God's deep love for us - not to leave us to our own devices out in the pasture but really make something of us.

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  16. Hi Barb,
    The incident that I mentioned in my post was the first time I heard the word too. I found out later that it was a real word not in use anymore by researching it on the internet. I can certainly see it at work in my life.



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