Call Me Bertie

In The King's Speech, there is a moment that quietly captures the essence of humility. Prince Albert, the Duke of York — soon to become King George VI of England — walks into the modest office of Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist with no medical degree and no royal connections. The prince has a crippling stammer, and every specialist in the British Empire has failed him.

Logue sets one condition: within these walls, they are equals. He will call the prince "Bertie." No titles. No formality. The future king of the most powerful empire on earth hesitates — then sits down and submits.

What follows is not a story of a king conquering his weakness through royal authority. It is a story of a man willing to be small enough to receive help. Bertie lets Logue see him at his most broken — trembling over syllables, raging in frustration, weeping with shame. And it is precisely in that lowering of himself that he finds his voice.

Scripture tells us that God "gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is being willing to let someone see the places where you struggle. It is the king sitting in the common man's chair, saying, "I need help."

The voice God wants to use in your life may be waiting on the other side of the words you are most afraid to speak: "I cannot do this alone."