Humility

I think that rainy days make me less funny. They steal away my sarcasm and incredible wit and make me all introspective and "think-y." I don't mind it. I'm just glad it's raining. Yesterday was like a rainy day but without the rain. It was just gloomy all day and I prayed for rain. Apparently, God's inbox was jammed with rain requests and He didn't get around to reading the Oklahoma requests until sometime this morning. I woke up to rain, though, which is one of my favorite ways to wake up... on a Saturday. It's not so fun to wake up to rain on a day when I'm supposed to get up and run, though. So I didn't. I'll do it this afternoon, no worries.

But in my usual rainy-day introspection I got to thinking about humility today. I feel like I've been learning a lot about humility recently, which has been really good. I've heard a lot of people say not to  pray for humility because it seems like the best way to learn these lessons is for you to be in situations where you have to swallow your pride, or you are humiliated in some way shape or form. But those who tell you not to pray for help in growing this way obviously just don't want it. Because if you truly desire to be humble, then you'll do whatever it takes to become so, even if it means going through difficult situations.

Humility is easy when people around you are demonstrating it for you. The hardest thing about humility, in my experience, is choosing it when those around you are choosing to be prideful and asserting their value over yours. It's among those people that I usually end up sticking up for myself and reminding them that I am just as valuable as they are. But that's not what humility does, is it? A humble woman is rooted with the knowledge that, regardless of how anyone else views her, she is a child of the King. She is loved by God and He gives her identity. When she knows that, it doesn't matter what anyone else says or does, she can be confident that none of their opinions or actions can change reality.

The humble person is not a doormat. She doesn't allow people to take advantage of her. But she does have the wisdom to know which battles are worth fighting and which ones are worth letting go. I want to be the kind of person who has the grace and humility not to assert my value every time it feels threatened. I want to be the kind of person who doesn't need the recognition of others to make her feel important. I want to be a woman of humility, a woman who stands firm in the knowledge of exactly who she is in Christ, no more, no less.