Humility Verses Humiliation

Recently, I was at a women’s luncheon with a couple of new friends. The table was elegantly set with linen, china, delicate teacups, tiny egg-salad sandwiches, and beautifully decorated ladyfingers. After we blessed the food, I asked one of the women to place my napkin on my lap and insert my bent spoon ‘just so’ into my arm splint. My new friend got it right on the first try. I was relieved – so far, so good. No one felt awkward about my disability, and the woman to my right was happy to occasionally give me sips of tea. This is going great, I thought as I glanced at my new friends. Then in the middle of our conversation, I began to feel my nose run. I quietly sniffed, but finally… it was seriously running, and I was helpless to stop the drips. So, I turned to the woman next to me and said with a smile, “I need a mother right now, someone who is really experienced at wiping a runny nose.” She laughed, happy to assist. In fact, she was honored to be called upon for her skills as a mother.

True, there was a time such a problem would have felt humiliating. I would have felt awkward, becoming self-focused and embarrassed. Such humiliation is born of the ego, but humility is born of the Spirit. While pride makes us artificial, pushing others away, humility makes us real and approachable. And so, I’ve learned to embrace humility through accepting humiliation with a free spirit. C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” How true! So, the next time you find yourself in an embarrassing situation, ‘step outside’ yourself and remember that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Freedom to discover humility, no matter how humiliating the circumstances.