Humility (noun): the quality of being humble; modest opinion or estimation of one’s own importance
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2
It’s very hard to be humble, and it’s definitely not fun. How about humbling yourself in front of your children? Admitting when you’re wrong…to them?
Marley and I hit a few rough patches the past few days – too much estrogen, maybe. She is her mother’s child… Anyway, this morning I snapped. She didn’t do anything too terrible, honestly, but it was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
It was bad, too. It was one of those arguments where I started about one thing, then kept on going…”And another thing!” “Oh and this, too!”
She cried, I cried. Not a pretty sight. We were able to calm down before school (yea, did I mention this was in the car on the way to school? Nice, huh?) and she forgave me for yelling, but all morning at work, I had pangs of guilt.
Sidenote: I am horribly guilty. Horribly. I beat myself up like crazy.
Anyway, I was sitting at my desk, moping, and realized that it was 11:45am, and if I left at that moment, I could get to school by noon and meet her at the clinic – she has to take Amoxycilin every day this week for an ear infection. Anyway, I digress. So I hopped up, grabbed my purse and ran out the door.
I made it to school and beat her to the clinic. As a matter of fact, Marley forgot so I had to go get her. She was happy to see me, which made me feel good. But I wasn’t satisfied with that.
I got her out of class to go take her medicine, and when we got in the hallway, I stopped her, got on her level (down on my knees) and sincerely, deeply apologized for my behavior this morning. The tears came (from me) and I hugged her and told her that it’s not excusable when she talks like that, and just because I’m an adult doesn’t mean I’m allowed to talk like that. She hugged me back and said she had forgiven me this morning. Then she smiled the sweetest smile, gave me a kiss, and all was forgotten.
I am so grateful for humility. I pray that my daughter will be humble, even though it’s one of the hardest characteristic traits to master. If you call attention to your own humility, you are no longer humble, but proud. It’s a fine line.
I by no means want to say that I’m proud of myself, because I truly am not. My behavior this mornign was childlike and unexcusable. But I did the right thing, and in the meantime, maybe I helped to teach Marley a valuable lesson.
~Kirsten
