Learning to lean into the opportunities for humility
In childhood Sunday School classes, we sang “Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord” in a perfect two-part round that sent chills down my spine, but I don’t ever remember any teacher ever teaching on humility. The Fruit of the Spirit, yes. Being loving, courageous, evangelistic – check, check, check.
Humility was a sort of mystery to me. You could achieve it by being Not Proud, but that was just as nebulous and abstract. So I just don’t brag about myself? Doesn’t sound too hard. I vaguely remember absorbing the concept that If you are humble, you won’t know that you are. Not exactly a measurable life goal.
So I find it fascinating that there seems to be a growing awareness in our culture – and not just among Christians – that humility is a valuable virtue. I recently read Tempered Resilience, which emphasized the necessity of humility in leadership. Then I read The Ideal Team Player, which emphasized (you guessed it!) humility in being the (you guessed it!) ideal team player. And super-popular speaker Brene Brown talks about it all the time.
It seems that I’m not the only one waking up to the significance of humility.
