Poor in spirit

What if I saw setback and reverses as gifts? What if I took on the attitude of an athlete that believes struggles are there to make me strong? How would that change my life?

Perhaps this is the secret to being poor in spirit. Perhaps what Jesus calls blessed is an attitude that refuses to live as "privileged" and act as if I deserve better, always.

Raniero Cantalamessa writes that God does not value what the poor [in spirit] have but what they do not have: self-sufficiency, a closed attitude, a presumption of being able to save themselves. A pretty profound thought.

So, if I realize I am not self-sufficient, then I will be open to finding the treasure within, and know that I can never honestly say, how can God treat me this way? 

A while back, a book written by someone who found out she had cancer made this startling statement. I was asked if I wondered, why me, Lord? But I didn't. Instead, when I realized I had the disease, my first thought was, why not me? Why should others suffer and I be spared? Why should I not have to take my share of trials on this earth, along with the many others? 

This person had the poverty of spirit Jesus calls blessed. She had an attitude that suffering was not the evil, but an attitude of privilege was. This person gives us an example of how our own outlook should be in life, one of openness, one of acceptance, one of grace.