Sometimes when we hear the word, “humble” we shiver a little bit. We associate “humbling ourselves” as a way of submission without a willingness or desire to do so. It means that at times we will need to swallow our pride, our opinions, our actions, and our way of thinking, in order to be open to hearing out or accepting someone, or something, new to come into our life.
As mothers, we sometimes have a hard time being humble when it comes to hearing out other moms and listening to advice. We get so set in our ways that we forget that there ARE other ways of doing things and raising our children; not just our own ways. We get so caught up in our pride and we start to judge other women and mothers around us for parenting the way that they are. To be humble and admit that maybe there IS a better way of caring for your kids ect. sometimes makes us feel like we are doing this whole motherhood thing wrong. I know for me personally, there have been times when another mom has tried to help me by voicing her opinion, and instead of taking her great advice and putting it to use, instead I started mom-shaming myself and feeling guilty that I already didn’t know that, or didn’t think of that first. That’s not how it should be.
Motherhood should not be something we compete and compare against each other, but instead the chance to encourage, support, and humbly admit that you need a community of mothers to help you become the mom you desire to be.
Our world is centered a lot around “you do you, girl!”, and “you don’t need to depend on anyone except yourself!”. What a sad way to live. Not only are you missing out on the incredible life-giving friendships that God so desperately wants you to experience, but you are also missing out on amazing opportunities of growth for you as a woman and mother! If we are consistently relying heavily on ourselves and not humbling ourselves to accept someone’s input, then we will start to develop hardened stubborn hearts; we get so narrow minded in believing that we alone are the only ones to fully rely on.
Maybe you’ve been hurt by other friends in your life. Maybe you’ve humbled yourself before and placed yourself in a position of allowing someone to speak their truth into your life, only to feel attacked instead of encouraged. I get it. It’s hard to be vulnerable and put yourself in place of humility, especially after you’ve been burned. But the reality is that by shutting yourself off from other friendships in fear of being hurt again, you are allowing that one experience to shape your whole life’s experiences. Do not allow one hurt and setback to write your fully story.
I want to encourage you to place your heart in a posture of humility. To humbly admit that you do not have all of the answers, and that you need community and other moms to help you grow into the woman and mother you were created to be. I’ll even take it one step further and challenge you to humble yourself in order for another mom to grow! Maybe if you see a mom going through a difficult time, and you, yourself, have an experience you went through (that maybe you have never shared with anyone before), that would benefit that other mom in a profound way; I would challenge you to be humble and vulnerable and share your story. Your humble heart could be the very thing that brings encouragement, motivation, and breakthrough to another mom struggling.
Remember, being humble isn’t lowering yourself to those around you and saying that you can’t handle tackling the role of motherhood. No, in fact, showcasing a humble heart in front of your children instead shows a mother who loves her children so much that she is willing to go to any lengths to have opportunities of growth to become the mom you want to be for your kids.
Let’s be humble. Let’s be kind. Let’s extend grace. Let’s set the tone as mothers and showcase to our children what it means to live in humility and to extend grace and love freely to those around us. Not only will we become better individuals and mothers by doing so, but our sweet children will benefit greatly from it as well. In my opinion, there is nothing more beautiful than the idea of raising my children to have gentle, humble hearts in a world that so desperately needs to experience that type of kindness, encouragement, and love.
