The Hope of Hattie Phelan: Volume I

22

Righteousness

"Humility is one of the hardest things to ever truly accomplish," Reverend Davis stated as the congregation sat quietly, the sun streaking through the stained-glass windows into the sanctuary. "It's so hard. We often get proud of our humility, which in all honesty is a bit backward, right?"

A few people chuckled as he stated this.

"But what I believe is the hardest thing about humility is the fact that in order to be humble we have to give up our right of being right," the reverend said, pausing in front of his notes. "We are often so concerned about how right we are that we forget to remember that there is a pretty high chance that we are wrong as well. No one can be perfectly right in a situation because there is always some human fault in something. The only One who can say that they are perfectly right and that be true is Jesus Christ. No one is perfect except for Him, no one is fully righteous except for Him, and no one is inherently good except for Him."

I furrowed my brows at the statement. I thought I was pretty good of a person. I mean, I worked, I tried to live my best, and steered clear of causing trouble in other people's lives. How was that not good? And what about Ma? Ma was good. She was the most good out of anybody I knew.

"I think we need to take into consideration the humility of Jesus," Reverend Davis continued as he walked in front of the first row of pews. "Jesus was without fault, completely and literally perfect, and yet when He was wrongfully arrested, did He stand up in the court and protest against the charges? He had every right to, for He hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, He had never done anything wrong. Yet He took the punishment of every sin in the world on Himself and was our perfect sacrifice. Now, that is what I call humility. Giving up one's right to be right. Isaiah 53:6 says, 'all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.' Isn't that a perfect representation of humanity? We have strayed! We have turned to our own strength and our own ways of life, but He still died for us."

I mulled over the thought, blocking out everything else. How could Jesus just let them walk all over Him? He could've walked out of there alive. None of this was making sense to me, so I pushed the thoughts out of my mind, trying to focus on what Reverend Davis was saying, but the phrase Aunt Margarette told me the other day kept ringing through my head: "He gave up His right to be right" and I couldn't get it out.

-=+=-

It was after the service, and since it was the second Sunday of the month it was Potluck Sunday. We had finished eating and the congregation had moved outside—the kids to the back of the church while the adults sat out in the front. The weather was getting nicer so it wasn't hard to convince everyone to sit outside.

Due to Reverend Davis's word this morning, I didn't feel myself. I couldn't grasp why Jesus could let others punish Him for something He didn't do. Not to mention I couldn't understand how no one was good. My mind was going crazy trying to wrap my mind around these things I didn't understand.

I also didn't understand why Wally was avoiding me. For the past couple of days, if I saw him on the farm, he'd avoid me. It was making me feel worse than I already was, and I didn't even know the reasoning behind it.

Luckily, David came rushing up to me to talk. As he babbled to me, I sat down on the church steps nearby, letting him sit on my lap. I stroked his strawberry blond hair, wondering why every time I looked at David I felt a pang in my chest. Then it hit me like a train.

He reminded me of Colin.

Colin would've been this old now and he'd had the same hair. I felt tears threaten to spill as I held David close to me. I didn't want to let him go in fear that if I did, he'd be gone like Colin.