It is quite the lesson in humility to accept help from a 7 year old.
On Friday, like many people in DFW, my boys and I came home early due to pending bad weather. As we pulled into the driveway, I thought I saw a flash of black and red through the backyard fence.
Oh no! I thought. The chickens are out and it is about to storm!
So in case you are new, we have five chickens in our backyard as of last Easter. Though I love cooking with their eggs, I, admittedly, am not the one to take care of them. Instead, that job goes to my animal-loving husband. And, occasionally, my boys. This time, however, my husband wasn’t home. I rushed the boys into the house and frantically looked around for something to help me round them up. We have a mini mealworm farm in our playroom, so I fished around in the box and found a few of those. Then the boys and I went out in the yard.
I tried everything. I held a wiggly worm in my hand, I made chicken noises, I begged the chickens to comply – nothing worked. Then, I called my husband for advice. While he was instructing me, my oldest calmly just started picking them up, one by one and depositing them in the coop. He was even careful to lock it each time so they didn’t escape. Eventually, he got all of them inside safely.
“Wow, honey. You did awesome!” I told him as I hung up with my husband. “I know,” he replied. “I’m a really good farmer.”
The truth is, the whole time I was freaking out about how to get the chickens in before the storm, he was telling me “I can do it, mom. I can do it.” And I had ignored him.
Isn’t it amazing what pride can do?
So, today, this is my prayer as we begin another week in January full of hope and dreams for the new year:
Lord,⠀
Let me have too deep a sense of humor to be proud.
Let me know my absurdity before I act absurdly.
Let me realize that when I am humble I am most human, most truthful,
and most worthy of your serious consideration.⠀
by Daniel Lord, SJ
How can you embrace humility today?
