meek and geeky

ha! ha! you should know that if you ask about words, i will always have plenty to say, so here goes. i am a true word geek.
contrary to popular opinion, humility and meekness are two very different traits. the "obscure" or original definition of meekness (from old Norwegian) is; "soft, mild, gentle, kind". so, if to be humble means (in my opinion) being willing to be taught and led by the Lord and not being hung up on getting your own way at all costs, then humility is about what motivates us to ACT. conversely, meekness is what governs our relationships with others, it determines how we REACT. meekness means being gentle and kind to others, and equally to ourselves.
the difference means that in today's world, where everyone values strength, power, victory and control, we have to get past that and in essence, embrace weakness. people who are meek are the ultimate good sports because they have no need to gloat when they win, and they can celebrate the victories of another without envy. it takes a great deal of effort to react with kindness instead of impatience and annoyance, especially when others don't do the things that we "think" they should, the way that we think they should be done, on our schedule. (insert parental guilt here, but that is a whole other story for another day)
cultivating humility allows the Lord to lead us and teach us in what we do everyday,and cultivating meekness teaches us to do the things we do with kindness and an awareness of others. as we work to be charitable to both ourselves and others it requires us to surrender our inherent need to "win". it is possible to succeed and have a good life without making someone else lose.
i know that the Lord doesn't want us to be wimps, but he wants us to be kind, to apologize when we make mistakes and to treat others as we would like to be treated, because we are meant to be governed by His love. letting someone go ahead of you in traffic is meek, but from personal experience, there aren't a lot of people even willing to do that.
i know, i know, enough preaching, but maybe that helps?
so now that i have vaunted my lofty opinions, i will thank you for letting me ramble. have a great day. geek on, or maybe that should be meek on! :)