Embracing Humility

Amelia Bentrup describes a recent humbling life change, meditating on Christ’s humility and the humility of motherhood. 

It has been 30 years since I graduated from high school and first set foot on a college campus. Right out of high school, I attended a typical four-year college and earned my degree, and then went on to earn a master’s degree. After getting married and having children, I became a stay-at-home mother and have spent the last 23 years raising my children and homeschooling them.   

While those years were difficult at times, I am very grateful I had the opportunity to spend so much time with my children and be involved in their education. However, in recent years, the Lord has put it on my heart to return to school and pursue a dream that has been percolating in my heart for a long time, that of becoming a nurse. My younger, still-at-home children have started school at a local, classical, Catholic school, and I have enrolled in classes at our local community college to earn an associate's degree in nursing and become a registered nurse.  

While I have mostly enjoyed being back in school, I had not expected what a humbling experience it would be. I am a volunteer writer who has found myself sitting in a beginning, entry-level English class at a community college because that class is a prerequisite to apply to the nursing program. I am surrounded by students who are younger than my oldest daughter, and some of the skills we are learning, I have, in fact, taught to my own children in the process of homeschooling them. It has been humbling. 

Christ’s Amazing Humility 

Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance. Philippines 2: 5-11 

This experience has really driven home for me the deep, amazing, and incredible humility of Christ. The idea of God Himself, becoming man, incarnate, starting from the very beginning as a tiny baby, is absolutely amazing. And even more humbling is Christ’s crucifixion. The humility he showed in allowing the Crucifixion and taking on the sins of the world for our salvation is awe-inspiring.   

I have also been reflecting on the humility of the rest of the Holy Family. Mary and Joseph certainly would have had amazing bragging rights with Jesus. After all, our children will never, through supernatural means at least, raise the dead, make the blind see, or heal the crippled. Yet, Mary and Joseph remained humble. While we don’t know how Mary spoke about her Son, we know that she most assuredly was not bragging about him around the well while gathering water with the other women.  

The Humility of Motherhood 

While not all of us will be called to sit in a college classroom again, we are all called to humility and obedience. As mothers, there is nothing more humbling than having children. While our children’s behavior seems to reflect upon us, we can’t control them. Whether it is the tantruming toddler at Mass or the sullen teenager, there are times our children will embarrass us. It is humbling to realize that no matter how many things we do perfectly, there are no guaranteed outcomes when it comes to raising children.  

Raising our children in the faith does not guarantee they will always practice it. A healthy diet does not guarantee our children will always be healthy or never get a serious illness. Protecting our children from certain influences does not guarantee that they will never be exposed to something they should not. No matter what the books, blogs, or other people try to say, there is no style of motherhood or parenting that will guarantee our children grow up to be healthy, happy, faithful Catholics.   

The Litany of Humility has become one of my favorite prayers. It is a difficult one to pray, but one that has brought much positive fruit and comfort in my life. It is a reminder to strive for humility and imitation of Christ in a world that encourages exaltation and honor.   

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke: 14:11) 

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Copyright 2025 Amelia Bentrup
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