This month has been a challenge in some ways, but I think the biggest has been learning how to walk in humility.
I think sometimes as Americans, we think that our ways are the right ways.
Even just living in a community of six women has taught me that my habits and my ways of doing things are not necessarily better than those of others. That lesson is magnified when you start living in different cultures and experiencing entirely different approaches to things you think you know how to do. It is a humbling experience.
And the thing is that humility can hurt.
It is not a comfortable feeling to recognize that you have been walking in pride and start trying to figure out how to change that. For a long time, I thought of myself as someone who is willing to jump in and do whatever is necessary to accomplish a goal. And maybe that’s true. I do what is asked, but I am recognizing that I don’t always do it with the best attitude, especially when I think there might be a better or more efficient way. Even in that, I am learning that people don’t always value the same things.
In America we place a high value on efficiency because we have so much to do that one of our highest values is the ability to accomplish the most things in the shortest amount of time.
This isn’t necessarily evil in and of itself, but it does contribute to our culture of hurry.
We don’t know how to be patient.
We don’t know how to take things slow and enjoy the process because we are so focused on getting it done so we can move on to the next thing.
Realizing that is hard. It’s hard to see the ways I’ve been looking at the world and start to consider that maybe those ways aren’t always the best ways. That requires humility. It demands that you entertain the possibility that you are wrong. Ultimately, the truth is found in Isaiah 55:8-9,
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I want to learn to respond in humility in whatever is asked of me. I want my attitude to be one of honor and gratitude at the opportunity to serve and love people in ways that may go unnoticed. I want to learn how to slow down and appreciate the cultures of people who aren’t as focused on achievement, but are instead focused on relationship. That takes humility, but it is also something that you can choose.
So this month has been about me learning to choose to do everything in a spirit of humility.
I can’t say that I’m good at it yet, but I’m grateful that I get to start choosing that now and making that choice as I go forward.
