Humility

Humility

“Pride is concerned with who is right.
Humility is concerned with what is right.”
Ezra Taft Benson

Thomas Jefferson said, “If you are upset with someone count to ten, if you are really upset with someone count to one hundred.” On the other hand, Mark Twain said, “When you’re upset, count to four, when you’re really upset, swear.” Jefferson’s suggestion probably works better around kids. Twain’s method will increase their vocabulary.

I believe that God is loving and forgiving, and I want to be that way with my children. So how can I expect them to treat each other with kindness and respect if I am not willing to do the same? Why must they apologize to each other when they are wrong, if I don’t have the humility to apologize to them when I am wrong?

I am the most influential man in my children’s life. Am I in charge of myself? Do I honor my commitments? Do I behave in the way I want them to behave, or do I tell them how to behave and have separate rules or no rules for myself? Am I man enough to do, myself, what I ask them to do?

We meet the challenges of parenting through hard-won experience, which can make us better parents. I don’t have it all figured out, but I have two big things going for me: my love for my family and the perseverance to never give up. And I know that is the secret to success in just about anything.