Dear readers,
Back in the spring of 2023, my older sister and younger brother and I were wondering why God wasn’t taking our 92-year-old mother to be with Him.
She had always been a faithful servant, and obedient to His word.
I prayed one morning, “God, please take Mom and relieve her of her suffering.” At that moment, God spoke to me and said, “I’m not taking your Mom until you, your sister, and your brother learn humility.”
It’s not like I heard His voice, His message just popped into my head. Now, I knew the meaning of humility but wanted to be sure I had it right, so I went to my dictionary and found the definition of humility: (1) a state of being humble; (2) putting others before oneself. I thought to myself, “Okay. That works for me.”
The following Sunday, before we visited our mom, I asked my brother and sister to sit with me in the small café on the main floor of the retirement home where our mother lived.
I told my siblings: “This may sound crazy to you both (I’m the most religious—Christian—of the three of us), but God spoke to me this week and told me that He’s not taking mom until we learn humility.” Over the previous few months, at times, my sister, brother, and I had been impatient with our mother.
My sister, to her credit, asked, “What is humility?” I answered, “Putting others first. We have to forget our own concerns and focus on mom and her comfort before our own.” There was no further discussion, and we left the café to see our mother. Our visit with her was pleasant.
A couple of days later, on his way home from work, my brother called me and said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said and you’re right, we have to be humble with mom. We have to put her needs first. I am prepared to do so!”
The next Sunday, we all met again at our mother’s place and had a nice time—no anxiousness, no impatience—just a good time. I said goodbye to my mom. Hugged her, kissed her, and told her that I loved her, and was thankful that she was my mom.
I don’t know how my brother and sister said goodbye to her and I have never asked. Our mom passed away peacefully in her sleep early the next Wednesday morning.
I thank God for my mom and dad every day, and for the love they gave me.
Wisdom of the Old Crows
Submitted by: Kim de Lagran, Utterson, Ont.I am a retired handyman, and one of my oldest friends is a dyed-in-the-wool entrepreneur. The two of us used to argue incessantly over the political situation in the United States, and about climate change. It got to the point of getting hurt feelings and not speaking to one another.
One day, my wife pointed out to me that my arguing style sounded exactly like my friend’s, and that I really wasn’t an economist or a climatologist even though I was trying to sound like one.
That truth hit home, and suddenly I saw myself as an old crow sitting on a fence cawing about nothing, because I really knew nothing. Then I envisioned my friend sitting across from me and cawing at me about nothing too. That changed everything—our past disagreements felt light, airy, and even funny.
When I told my good friend about my vision he really couldn’t see the humour in it, but he did lose some resolve to be argumentative. He will now often stop his migration toward turning a conversation into a verbal fight when I mention old crows. I tend to back away from pointless disagreements as well.
I still hold that vision of old crows and laugh way more at myself and what I don’t know!
Simple Words, Boundless Meaning
Submitted by: David ThornI work with youth and young adults. I emphasize the importance of humility, but I found that humility is often misunderstood and confused with humiliation. This led me to ask myself what humility really is.
The definition I came up with, which has served me ever since, is simply this: Humility is openness to truth. Openness to the truth about oneself, one’s situation, and the truth about others. Simple honesty without catering to emotional bias. It is integrity.
Truth builds a solid foundation for oneself and for relationships. It provides clear vision for good decisions.
I can understand why it has been found to be more important than high intellect.
In the spirit of love, truth, and beauty,
David
Pride and Humility
Submitted by: Debra Dolan, West Vancouver, B.C.Humility is something I struggle with. I’m proud of what I’ve done, and I want to acknowledge it. I want to clap for myself; not because I need applause, but because I know how hard‑won those accomplishments are.
But I also don’t want to be the centre of attention. I’ve never wanted to take up more space than I need, or overshadow the people I care about. I want to live fully, not loudly.
The challenge is finding the balance: celebrating my own life without making it the headline, and giving equal room for friends and loved ones to share and shine.
Humility, for me, isn’t about pretending that I’m small. It’s about knowing my worth without insisting on it. It’s the quiet confidence of standing beside others, not in front of them, and to say honestly, “I’m proud of myself.”
A Humble Task
Submitted by: Phillip HansenWhat is humility?
I was 17 years old and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Wanting to better understand humility, I asked for its definition. I was told, “When you think you are, you are not,” and, “Be teachable.” While those answers made sense, I still felt that something was missing.
Then one day after our mutual improvement class, Sister Duvall put her arm around my shoulder and said, “I have a class I want you to teach.”
I told her I didn’t know how. She responding by assuring me that the class would “transform” my life. She then handed me the lesson manual and walked away.
Three weeks later, I taught the class, and it did transform my life.
As the church’s canon states, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.”
Later, I was inspired to compose this poem on humility.
Humility
Humility is the ability to see one’s folly, with an attitude of high self-esteem.
It’s a hunger for growth in search of truth, to understand in meekness one’s purpose worth.
To serve with love humanity, to sow good will on earth.
To trust in God in every deed, this I hope will be my humble creed.
