Humbling moments.... what they have taught me.

"Humble : reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission." 


I've heard of other people talk about having humbling moments in  their life and never took a look at my life to look at the times I was humbled and how they have affected me and how I act/react in those same situations today.


About 5 years ago, I stopped working full time and quickly had 3 children that my husband and I had to take care of. 3 kids and one income always proved to be a task for me to learn to deal with.  During one difficult financial time, I needed to get groceries and had low funds. I took a large shopping bag full of pennies and other coins I had in the house and set out with the 3 kids to the store. Let me also add, my children were 10, 1 and newborn. The weather that day was cold and a really bad rain storm was passing through. We get to the store and I have my 10 yr old take my 1 yr old b the hand, I grab the bag of change and cover the baby in her car seat and we all go running through the pouring rain to the store. Then BAM! In the middle of the parking lot the bag of change breaks open and all the coins hit the ground. 


I have my son take his little sisters up onto the side walk and out of the rain. I then walk back out to figure out how I'm going get these hundreds of coins up off the ground. I'm wet, I'm cold, I'm embarrassed, I'm frustrated and I didn't want my kids seeing me in this situation. I was feeling really low and right at that moment, a car drove by with an elderly couple in it and the man stared at me. I yelled, "What are you looking at?!?!" Then I continued on picking up the pennies and putting them into a new bag. 

A moment later I felt the rain stop. I saw that it was still actively raining, but just not on me. I look up and that elderly man I yelled at, was crouched down beside me, holding an umbrella over my head and helping collect all my coins. And there it was..... the humbling experience I've always heard about. Not much was spoken between the two of us, and he even let me keep the umbrella. 


This experience has to be the worst story in my life - in regard of how I acted toward another innocent person. It is so embarrassing to me, that I don't think I've ever shared it with my husband. But I wanted to share it here to show how a humbling experience can change you.  See, I still remember the feelings of that day. When I find myself beginning to have those same feelings of frustration, I remember that day. It helps put things back into perspective and helps me act the way I know I should and how I'd want to be treated.


Have you experienced a humbling moment? Please share it!