But what does humility really mean? The derivation of the word “humble” is the Latin “humus,” meaning “soil,” and herein lies a most apt metaphor for understanding what is most basic to humility. The humble feel themselves equal to the soil upon which they walk and from which they are made. They cannot be lowered, for they are already low. But this lowliness in no way means servility; it means purity and godliness. Satan’s great fall came from his inordinate pride, which rendered him impure. For us, each time that we let pride get the better of us; we have similarly soiled ourselves. This is the nature of our lowliness: not servility, but a purity shared with the soil, by which we paradoxically remain unsoiled (by pride).
-Mother Alexandra (formerly Her Royal Highness lleana, Princess of Romania and Archduchess of Austria)
Gladsome Lights 
Yes! Knowing what we are, and from whence we’ve come.
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Have you read Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom? He says something quite similar: “The earth is always there, always taken for granted, never remembered, always trodden on by everyone, somewhere we cast and pour out all the refuse, all we don’t need. It’s there, silent and accepting everything and in a miraculous way making out of all the refuse new richness in spite of corruption, transforming corruption itself into a power of life and a new possibility of creativeness, open to the sunshine, open to the rain, ready to receive any seed we sow and capable of bringing thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold out of every seed.” Whenever I think of those who suffered in prisons, I think of this quote :).
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Tavi, thank you so much for putting the whole quote in here 🙂 Yes, I have read that book, but I think I gave it away. That is such an inspiring description of a Christlike soul.
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I am particularly blessed today by the meditation Offer This Moment that I jumped to from today’s post.
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Oh, yes, the link from her name. Thank you for mentioning it – I went back to read it again, and it’s an important reminder for me!
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I am sure that I read an article about her in one of my vintage women’s magazines, probably from the late 40s or early 50s. Had she come here as a refugee in those years? Now I must research her!
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After reading your link, I’m sure I did [read about her], as a serial probably in LHJ then. I remember being so inspired by her story and how she was raising her children in America. Now I’ll be watching for it again as I look through them in the future.
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Thanks to you, Dewena, I found this article from the Ladies’ Home Journal 1952, about Princess Ileana: http://tkinter.smig.net/PrincessIleana/LHJ-Jan1952/index.htm
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