Think it's only recently (by recent, it means within this couple of months), that I start to appreciate the beatitudes even more (not that i didn't in the past, but the verses of the beatitudes kept coming back to me in the past few months).

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
When we realize we are broken and nothing before God, when our hearts are made so contrite and our spirits before God.

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
When we cry in our hearts.

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
The people who may not be considered strong by the world. Those who do not assert themselves (?)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled
When you hunger and thirst, it means you have a lack of it in your body, but recognize their lack and has the desire to be filled right? Righteousness does not come from us, but is credited to us through Jesus when we receive Him into our lives.

According to wikipedia, the beatitudes comes from the word 'beatus' which means 'blessed' or 'happy'. I quote:
"The blessed nature that these characteristics endow is not meant to be considered from a worldly perspective, but from a psychological perspective. The word traditionally translated into English as "blessed" or "happy" is in the Greek original μακάριος (makarios). A more literal translation into contemporary English may be "possessing an inward contentedness and joy that is not affected by the physical circumstances". The Beatitudes imply that people not normally considered blessed on Earth are in fact blessed by God and will experience the Kingdom of Heaven."

Doesn't it fall so nicely in line with what Paul means when he said 'for when I am weak, then I am strong'? That when we know in our hearts that we don't have much to offer, that though the world has taught us to show the strong side of ourselves to others and keep the weak side to ourselves - we know that we still have lots of weaknesses inside us, that when we are mourning inside beyond what is seen, the promise of God is that we will be 'be comforted, inherit the earth, filled' and that ours is the 'kingdom of heaven'.
Not to say that we have to go around saying 'oh, i'm so weak, oh i'm so meek'... but in our hearts acknowledge our own brokenness before God, and that's the first fundamental step to seeing the power of God work through us.
i always remember what Jason wrote in a card to me long time ago:
'a broken and contrite heart, God will not despise'.