Matthew 5:3 - what does it mean?

Steve, I have the translation of its meaning as I view it;
Those who have poor spirit, lowly spirit, feel often like an outsider, or not having plenty with earthly gain can have, or will obtain more valued lives in the experiences of their happiness when focused on the riches of heaven. Having the kingdom of heaven theirs and their source of happiness and inspiration through God who is the provider of their joy for a poorly spirit.
I believe this is so for those with broken spirits who seek heaven for their joy, happiness, and heart desires.

Excellent Miisrael! I could not agree more!

"You have filled me with happy laughs today!"

I believe this verse is describing people who understand their spiritual bankruptcy, not a spiritual bankruptcy against which the will rebels but a spiritual bankruptcy under which the will BOWS. That's what causes someone to come into the kingdom. When you're not trying to convince yourself you're really okay, when you're not rebelling against the fact that you know you're not, but when you submit to your condition and cry out to God for mercy.

Thank you Siebra. Your comment prompted me to look more closely at the word ptokos and I found this:

The word used for poor is ptokos, and it describes an emphatic state of poverty: not that of a low-income wage earner, but that of someone who is without a wage at all, and indeed must ask for everything he receives. Commentators often use the image of a beggar to describe ptokos, but this is misleading. Disciples of Christ are not beggars; they are children, and beloved children as well, ones sought out by God even to death on the Cross. The more appropriate image of one “poor in spirit” is a child.
My little daughters are utterly dependent on me for everything. If I did not feed them, they would starve; if I did not clothe them, they would freeze; if I did not give them a house to live in, they would be totally exposed to the elements. A child, at least in circumstance, is ptokos. An adult is too, at every level of his or her existence. We forget our total dependence on God, the degree to which God permeates our reality. We forget this, or we just don’t know it. So, if we want to understand what poverty truly means, the first beatitude demands that we acknowledge from the beginning God as Creator of heaven and earth.

https://sethearl.wordpress.com/2006/09/18/...