The quietness, openness, vulnerability, and gentleness of meekness are lovely and painful. The gentle and meek are sustained because they are willing to let go. Having come to the end of striving, grasping, demanding, needing, craving, and longing, they have learned to trust and live in response to God’s Spirit’s inner prompting. They know God is the only force capable of bringing true goodness into this world. We know that inheritance is given as a gift, something we do not build or receive through our own merit. It is provided merely by virtue of our relationship. The gentle and meek know they are related to God as children to a parent. They are open to receiving the inheritance of life, which is why they can afford to be meek and gentle. Moving quietly through life, they may appear to make less impact, but their power comes from being inwardly transformed. Having given up fighting for things they then have to protect, they are courageous because they know that the inner Christ is their protection. The gentle and meek are free and have freedom that can only come from Christ, who lives within us. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we commit our way of life to patiently waiting on God, for in this patience, he begins to help us learn what it is to embrace meekness and gentleness. In this quiet confidence, we are slow to speak and quick to listen. We become reasonable and open to correction. That is what St. James refers to as “the wisdom in meekness.” That is why our Lord taught that the gentle and meek would inherit the earth. It is part of the perfection of love.