Mormons with low self esteem

Schalom and vee gehts! Moishe and I have been so busy the last few months that we haven't been blogging, and for that we apologize. In our defense, we have spent some time thinking of good things to blog about.

Enough with the apologies! On to bigger and better things!

Today, I want to talk about something that really gets on my nerfen. Allow me to explain (and then, maybe allow me to kvetch a bisel?). We were in Sunday School, when my teacher, bless his heart, started talking about humility. He had a few good things to say, but then he ruined it all by saying, "If you think you are, you aren't."

Humility may be many things, but low self-esteem it isn't! This is something that really bothers me, so I want to make it very clear. Thinking that you are bad at everything (especially being humble) is not what humility is about.

The Savior said "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). So, either Jesus is lying to us, and he is not really lowly, or there is something that differentiates humility and low self-esteem.

I hate the fact that if I talk about something I did well, people always say (albeit jokingly) "sounds like somebody needs to learn some humility." There is nothing wrong with taking pride in a job well-done. If I cook a good meal, I want to be able to say "Wow. That was tasty" and if I win a game, I want to high-five my team.

Mostly, I think that we, as a people, need to rethink our definition of humility. We need to be willing to enjoy doing things well. I am not sure how we can define it well, but here's what I think:

Humility- The recognition that one's acts were accomplished through the aid of a
higher power, and the reverent gratitude for the aid received.

It's not perfect, but it's a working definition to say the least. If
anybody has any parts they would want to add, they are more than welcome.

Till next time, zay gezunt!

Herschel