November: The Humble Month

Photo Credit

Copyright 2010, Elizabeth May

November can be austere. Stripped of October's flash and all the Halloween hype, it's pensive, thoughtful--like a bookish cousin to the previous month's party mentality.

The former exclamation points of vivid leaves dotting our Pennsylvania hills have died down. Now it's just bare bark and the few last burnished brown oak leaves stubbornly clinging to their branches. Days are short, and mornings bring thick, robust frosts.

My decorations echo November's sensibility. I stow away the bold orange and black Halloween gear, and leave out garlands of muted fall leaves, gourds, Indian corn. I bring out wheat sheaf candle holders, wooden turkeys, and the ever modest Pilgrims figurines. I make hot tea. I sit in my front room and watch the world outside my picture window.

I've come to enjoy this quiet, unassuming month--sandwiched between the two biggest commercial holidays of the year--for what it is. A respite. A time to slow down. While I've met folks who go right from Halloween to decorating for Christmas and buying for Christmas and planning for Christmas, that's not November for me.

November walks--or most winter walks, for that matter--reward only the observant. I've had to learn to look with new eyes, in order to see beauty where I previously saw nothing. Now I can appreciate the etched look of black branches against the sky. A few vivid red rose hips on an otherwise barren bush. Scallop-edged pale green lichen patches on extravagantly textured tree trunks.

If I had to guess what November's defining personality trait was, I'd have to say humility.

Humility is not something we think much of much these days. "If you have it, flaunt it," seems to be the motto of the 21st century--certainly not "pride comes before the fall," or " the meek shall inherit the earth."

If you think humility seems like a quaint, old-fashioned concept that doesn't have much place in today's society, take a moment to consider what a few of the world's preeminent thinkers and scholars have said about humility.

Humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues. ~

Confucius 

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility. ~

William Shakespeare 

Humility makes great men twice honorable. ~

Benjamin Franklin 

Humility, like darkness, reveals the heavenly lights. ~

Henry David Thoreau 

Then, of course, there's the Biblical perspective:

Humility is the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honor and life. ~

Proverbs 22:4, NIV

But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Psalm 37:11, KJV

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. ~

Philippians 2:3

 
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. ~

Proverbs 11:2

Dear Lord: This November, help us to slow down and enjoy the quiet beauty of the world around us. Guide us as we seek humility in a world that seems to prize vanity and ostentation. Teach us how to value others above ourselves; help us learn to serve you with love and joy. Amen.