A lesson in Humility

Evening was upon us on this beautiful summer day, and the trees were casting shadows, providing a much needed refuge from the hot sun. My two older children were working to clean off a future garden plot that was riddled with sticks and logs that the hogs had uncovered the previous week. The two toddlers were splashing each other with water from the wheel barrow from yesterday’s rain. They then chased each other up the hill side and were playing with twigs and leaves and bugs, and I could hear sweet giggles. My sweet newborn baby girl was resting peacefully in her bed that had been placed in the red wagon next to me so I could tend to her as I tended to the garden. I sat down to rest on a chair near by to nurse the baby.

I was observing the toddlers in their play, and I knew my two older children were working hard, and I was outside working in the garden with the infant…..I was enjoying myself…..and then this thought crept into my mind…..”I did it, I have finally gotten all 5 children outside at the same time! I am working outside with all 5 children successfully! I have everything under control!” I imagine that I had a smug look on my face to match the level that I had just exalted myself to……that very next moment Big Pirate (our Mommy Pig, that my 3 year old named) rounded the corner of the natural fence my husband was in the process of constructing around our garden plots….I called in the direction of my two older children for help. I glanced up the hill at my toddlers and noticed that my 2 year old had her cloth diaper around her ankles and a handful of her own poop in her hands……and I was still nursing the baby. They went for the hammer to fix the fence and for some food to lure them back to their pen; I was trying to herd them back to where they were supposed to be while still nursing my baby. My toddlers decided that they wanted to help also, and they were chasing piglets everywhere, shrieking and giggling with joy! And yes, my 2 year old was still running around with her diaper at her ankles and poop in her hands…

We eventually got the pigs back to their pen and I eventually got my 2 year old’s attention just long enough to communicate to her to throw her poop on the ground and to quit running around with it in her hands. I finished nursing the baby, and the 2 year old was hosed down outside because she was covered in poop.

God taught me a very valuable lesson in that one moment…humility….I am never in control of anything, He is. To think that I am is foolish and prideful. I can’t do anything apart from Christ. I pray to be a quick learner so I don’t have to repeat this lesson twice.

“Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 23:12

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5