Harold Keller / L’Observateur / December 9, 2000

According to Jonathan Edwards in Frank S. Mead’s “12,000 ReligiousQuotatons,” the best protection one can have from the devil and his schemes, is a humble heart. The Bible says that humility is the secret togreatness.

When my children were young, I dreamed of them being successful as measured by the world, for example, a bank president, a Congressman, a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a journalist, etc. It was never an afterthoughtthat they could be successful by just being a good husband, a good wife, a good father, or a good mother.

Today, my idea of success has changed. I now know that being in God’s willfor your life is true success.

My children are all married and have blessed Jeanne and I with 15 grandchildren. My desire for them is to be in God’s will for the rest of theirlives. If any of them become great leaders in the public’s eyes, you can bet I’llbe proud, but my desire is that they will be true to themselves and to God.

However, regardless of what any of my children, or grandchildren, achieve in this life, I can never be more proud than I was of my granddaughter, Kerri, when she was in the sixth grade.

One day, I was waiting to pick up Kerri, his sister, Brandi, and her brother, David, from school. When the children were dismissed, Kerri’s teacher, Mrs.Wanda Collins, ran up to the car and said, “Mr. Keller, your granddaughter isreally a child of God and a true servant!” I waited, impatiently, for her to tell me what Kerri had done. She said, “You know, Mr. Keller, a young boy in theclass got sick today and vomited at his desk. The children were makingdisgusted faces and wanting to get out of the room. I was going to get atowel to clean up the mess, when Kerri said, ‘I’ll do that for you, Mrs.

Collins.'”According to Mrs. Collins, Kerri got on her knees and cleaned up the mess.”You should be proud of your little girl,” Mrs. Collins said. “She has truehumility.” I told her that I certainly was.Kerri will graduate from Riverside Academy in May but regardless of what she or any of my children or grandchildren accomplish in this life, I will never be more proud than when I was told of what Kerri did six years ago as an 11- year-old.

I pray that Kerri will never forget the humble and servant spirit she had that day in Mrs. Collins’ class.

HAROLD KELLER writes this column as part of his affiliation with the Get High on Life religious motivational group. To contact him, call 652-8477.

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