For most of us today, humility is one of the hardest virtues to practice.

Part of the problem is the culture we live in. We're bombarded with the message that we owe it to ourselves to reach for the very best of everything — and in the greatest quantities we can get it. After all, we've earned it —just by being here, at this place and in this time. So we're told.

Especially during Advent — “shopping season” to the secular culture around us.

Sometimes we're even warned that we'll have major problems if we don't express all our feelings and pursue all our desires. It's not only healthy to think of ourselves first and put others second, they tell us, but it's also the right thing to do.

Jesus had a different point of view. How different? Well, one day he called a child to his side and said to the crowds: “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4).

When I read that passage, my first thought is, “Were children different in 30 A.D. than they are now?” Most little children think they deserve whatever they want, when they want it. Most parents know what it's like to walk out of a store with a small child screaming, “I want it! I want it!” As a mother of six, I know all my little angels exercised their will at least a few times in their life. My 2-year-old rarely fails to tell us what she thinks of bedtime. The last few nights, as I lay beside her, she all but cried herself to sleep, repeating, “I doan wan to.”

So how are we supposed to learn about humility from a child — when, by all outward appearances, little children can be the epitome of selfishness, strong will and pride? Would we consult our 3-year-old when we are thinking of changingjobs or making a major purchase?

A child has very little say in the major decisions that control his life, so he's the last person we would ask for that sort of advice. A child, after all, is clueless. He does not have the ability to understand what is best for him.

Could it be that this is the humility God is trying to show us in Matthew 18:4? I, for one, think so. Sometimes we are clueless to what is best for us. We have to trust God to be in control of our lives as our children must trust us. This takes humility. It means giving over our control to God: accepting his will for our lives.

Recently, my husband was told he would be laid off because of budget cuts. I know jobs are not plentiful right now. But, as a Christian, I also know that “all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). And I accept God's will for my life and the lives of the people I love. If God knows that it will take being poor to help us get to heaven, then poorness may be a great blessing.

God loves us. He will take care or us. Just as my children need not worry about the troubles of this world, I need not worry, either. I even came to realize that this might mean trusting him even to the point of death. This is humility.

By the grace of God, my husband has found another job. Just prior to this I had begun praying the prayer of Pope Clement XI — which includes these words: “Lord, I want whatever you want, because you want it, the way you want it, as long as you want it.”

Humility is hard, but it's a virtue I must practice if I am to trust God, my loving Father, in all things.

Jackie Oberhausen writes from Fort Wayne, Indiana.