Is Meekness a Weakness?

Dolores: 00:00:00

Is meekness a weakness?

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Or could it be a kind of super-power?

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Jesus said something about this in his

beatitudes, which some say provide a

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blueprint for living the Christian life.

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So let's join a conversation with

our Good News team Lynn Shematek,

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Lauren Welch and Jon Shematek.

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Jon: Our Beatitude for today is the

third one on the list, Blessed are

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the meek, they shall inherit the earth.

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I'm so eager to hear what you

two have to say about meek.

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And what, what does meek mean to you?

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Lauren Welch: When I hear the word

meek for most of my life, what I

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thought was someone who was weak,

someone who more like a doormat

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allowed people to run over them.

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I didn't think of meek

as being anything good.

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Oh, that's the first thing

that comes to mind for me.

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Jon: Lynn, how about you when you hear

the word meek, is that what you think

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of, or do you have something else?

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Lynn: More meek and mild.

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Someone that's just things

aren't bothering them.

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They just let it go and don't say much.

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I guess maybe a doormat.

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Maybe something, someone that just

is there but not really present.

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What about you?

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......

Jon: my initial reaction sounds just like the two of you.

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I think of of somebody that's

I think someone is meek.

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I think that they're passive.

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They're very they don't

want to be noticed.

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They're fearful in a way.

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And yeah.

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Weak and passive.

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That's what comes to mind.

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So that can't be what Jesus meant.

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Can it?

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Lauren Welch: I don't think so.

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I think Jesus was meek and he was

calling his disciples to, to be meek,

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which is to, I believe, to be conscious

of their strengths, of their weaknesses,

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and to know that they can with God's

help do what they're being called to do.

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Jesus certainly lived his life

following his call knowing his

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strength where he needed help.

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He called 12 people and then 72 to

help with this mission because he

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knew he couldn't do it all by himself.

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He needed more people to to work with him.

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And so I think it's in knowing and

knowing yourself, knowing your strength.

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And it's being I think the word that

we use today that best describes what I

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believe meek is humility, is not putting

your ego forth, but allowing the spirit

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to speak through you and in everything

you do if you can do that, which is hard.

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I don't think we do it all the time.

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Jon: I think it is hard.

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I think it's very hard.

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What's that country western song?

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It's hard to be humble When you look

like me because i'm so handsome.

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Yeah all that

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Lauren Welch: right,

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Jon: so would you agree that?

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Meek tends to have, for many people,

many of us, myself included, a

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negative connotation, but maybe

humility is not quite so negative.

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Lynn: Yeah, I think that we do

like the humility, humble, the

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humble giant, the, person that is.

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capable of, tearing you apart,

and he turns out to be the hero of

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the story, and that he's so good.

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So yeah, I think that humble or humility

is a better way to say than meek.

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Jon: And I really like that kind

of ties in very much to what Lauren

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said that I really was you said that

someone who is meek or humble is aware

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of their strength, which is true.

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And I think they are aware of the good

use they can put their strength to.

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It's like the humble giant.

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This is a, there's someone,

there's a sweetness there.

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There's strength.

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that could be destructive, physical

strength, but strength, there's

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a more like an inner strength

that is, is more about not being

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destructive, but being constructive.

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Now, I, and I thought Lauren, it

was interesting when you're talking

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about Jesus saying he, his meekness

was recognizing his strength.

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And I also liked, cause I thought,

Oh, what you going to say about

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Jesus recognizing his weakness?

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You didn't say that you said he

recognized when he needed help, he

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recognized that he needed others.

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And maybe that's for us.

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What meekness is recognizing.

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Being humble enough to know what our

strength and power is and being humble

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enough to know where we need help, where

we need God, where we need other people.

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We can't do anything alone.

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The three of us can't

do this podcast alone.

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We need help.

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We need God to guide us

through some of this.

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And we need each other to

to offer advice and counsel.

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And content.

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Yeah.

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Lynn: I think it's interesting in this,

is that they get to inherit the earth.

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The meek shall inherit the earth.

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Now, if you believe in the second

coming and all of this, Isn't

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the earth going to be dissolving

or, earth is quite transitory.

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Jon: Yeah.

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So what what do you think that could mean

that they're going to inherit the earth?

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That's great because we haven't looked

necessarily at the other half of these

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Beatitudes all the time and to say,

for they shall inherit the earth.

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What does that actually mean?

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Is that something that sounds positive?

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Yeah,

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Lynn: what I imagine probably would sound

positive, let's say, to someone that has

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not had a very good life on this earth.

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Jon: That's a question that comes

out of this is what could that mean?

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And certainly the literal earth.

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I really wonder about, it's

less attractive today than ever.

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So it's who wants to inherit this mess of

the climate change and the pollution and

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all the wars and insurrections and floods

and turmoil and all the apocalyptic kind

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of stuff that was in the Bible happening.

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So it, it must mean something else, right?

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Lauren Welch: Might it mean

that people who have humility?

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can bring people together, can help

bring peace among among people who

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are not at peace, bring harmony.

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Jon: So inherit the earth, but a different

kind of earth than we have today.

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Because if let's say everyone were meek,

what a different world that would be,

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and it would be a world worth inheriting.

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Maybe that's what it means.

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And Lauren, you mentioned some episodes

in Jesus life where he was meek.

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And what, are there others

that come to mind for anybody?

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Lauren Welch: The one that stands out

for me with Jesus is him before Pilate.

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Jesus knowing what was going to happen.

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He didn't debate Pilate.

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He stood silent before him.

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He allowed Pilate to tell him who he was,

and he said, yeah you said it, not me.

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So he knew who he was, he knew

who he was in God, and that's the

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only thing that was important.

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And what Pilate or the other people

were going to do and say he, he

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left the consequences of that.

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In God's hands, or in the

people's hands that we're going

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to do it, but in God's hands

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Jon: yeah.

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And , in thinking about it when you

described and brought back to mind

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Jesus standing before Pilate I thought

what was exquisitely true of him?

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I think he was.

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The example of someone who is self aware.

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I think that this what

meekness means, it could mean.

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Someone who is meek is

extremely self aware.

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They are aware of their strengths.

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They are aware of the areas in their lives

where they need some help or improvement.

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And so maybe if we were rewriting this

Beatitude today, we'd say, Blessed

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are the self aware, for they know

their strengths and use it well.

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They know their weaknesses and

ask for help when necessary.

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I like thinking of it that way.

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It gives a whole different

dimension to meek.

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It's so much more it's not just

wordsmithing it to make it sound positive.

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That must have been, something like

that must have been Jesus intent.

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. Lauren Welch: Think it's really

difficult to become, Self aware or

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conscious of our motives of our of what

is going on inside of us all the time.

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I think it's very difficult to become

self aware to to look at ourselves

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and see ourselves as we are, both our

true selves and our shadow selves.

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Lynn: And Lauren, what do

you mean by a shadow selF?

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Lauren Welch: the false self the

self that we don't wanna look at, the

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things that I'm ashamed of those that's

the, for me, that's the shadow side.

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Lynn: I also think that the thing

that Jesus was trying to do with these

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Beatitudes is to, not only to give

them a blueprint of how to become

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Christians and how to live their

lives, but also that, that if you

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do this, it gives you great comfort.

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The meek will inherit land.

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They'll become important, I think.

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And so it's in each of the ones

it has been something that, that

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Gives you great comfort too.

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That's one of the things that I think

that for me has been so difficult is with

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so many times you say, Oh, Jesus says,

pick up your, you don't pick up your

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cross and carry it or things like that.

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And it I don't want to do that.

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I want to have a nice, comfortable life.

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But these are different.

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They give you comfort.

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Each thing gives you comfort.

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And you realize, if you do,

if you are doing good things,

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it does give you comfort.

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If you are being meek and you

are being these other attributes,

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it does give you comfort.

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So it's in this life, and you don't

have to wait for the next life.

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I

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Jon: What I'd like to do is ask our

viewers and listeners to consider

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what does meekness mean to you?

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What does it mean to be meek?

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Does it mean Something negative, or can

it mean something like self awareness?

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And also, secondly, to think of

examples either in the Bible, in

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Jesus life, or other other persons

in the Bible, or in your own life in

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particular, of someone you know, or

you yourself, if you've had moments

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of humility, what that has been like.

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. So that wraps up the beatitude

about being meek and We're so

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grateful that you're with us today.

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Thanks very much for being here

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Lynn: Thank you, everyone.

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Take care.

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Lauren Welch: Blessings and

peace until we meet again.

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..............

Dolores: This episode on the Beatitudes has been brought

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to you by listening for clues.

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You can find us at our

website listeningforclues.com,

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on our YouTube channel or on just

about any audio podcast channel.

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hope to see you soon.