What's This Humility Thing?

So, I've decided that one of the major things that I am supposed to be learning right now is humility.  Not because I'm normally really proud (at least i don't think I am - please call me on this if you think otherwise), but because I need to be more humble to truly learn.  I suppose it's also because for the last 6 years or so I've been fairly effective at what I do and been told so by various sources in my life (although any effectiveness is only due to gifts that God has given me).  Sorry for the disclaimers - humility and pride are difficult to write or talk about in a personal sense and to be absolutely honest.  If you try to talk about your state of humility you sound prideful and if you try to talk about your state of pride you sound too humble.

Anyway, I always need to learn more humility, and especially now.  Here are a few reasons why:

1) One syllable words.  I am used to talking about "deep" concepts and how to change behavior, etc, at work and with friends.  Now most of my days are spent using one-syllable words, sometimes with little additional sentence structure. "Blake - eat?" "Eat cereal?" "Say hi" "Dog says woof" "Cow says moo" . . . .

2) Two different worlds.  There are moments that I realize that Pete and I really do come from two distinct and unique worlds of communication.  Both are valid and both can be effective.  It's the challenge of bringing those two worlds together that requires humility and a willingness to change your world.

3) It's not about me.  I always realized that getting married and having kids would be a complete shift in priorities and what I spent my time doing.  And I always wanted that.  I treasured the time on my mission when I was able to really worry only about other people and not myself.  But I don't think anything completely prepares you for not only spending your time caring for and worrying about others, but the shift that nothing in your life is only about you.  Never will it revert to when pretty everything was about me.  Even when working to help others, serving others, etc, I was making the decisions about what to do and when and about what was important to me.  Now I still make decisions, but every decision includes the question "what is best for us?" or "what is best for Blake?".  And while that often requires humility to not be frustrated by that, I would never trade it to go back to it being about me.

So some days I want to ask "what's this humility thing?" . . . but in the end it is linked to the greatest blessings  I have in my life . . . so I suppose I should just get on with learning it!