Humility is not thinking you are nothing. Humility is knowing you are nothing without God.

Now, the book I was reading had absolutely NOTHING to do with humility. Nor have I had any discussions about it lately. So it was kind of a lot random. 

The more I think about it though, that was something I needed to hear. I have always been of the school of thought that being humble means you downplay your strengths and talents, or that you are meek and submissive, or that you brush off compliments. I was brought up in a family that does not easily admit to strengths. I was taught from a young age that saying I was good at something was bragging, and bragging is very, very bad. Needless to say, that did WONDERS for my self-esteem. As I grew up, I naturally thought that if I denied compliments and thought little of myself, then that just meant I was being humble. And humility is a virtue, so it was good.

Except it's not. 

Humility, as I realized this morning, is not refusing to believe you have unique talents. It is not putting yourself down. Humility is not saying "whatever" when someone tells you you're a great friend, or pretending to be dumb so that people will like you, or hating on yourself. In fact, it's the opposite. Humility means that you recognize that you are special and that you come with a set of talents, traits, and abilities that belong solely to you, but that you also recognize Who gave those to you. When you brush off a nice comment from someone, you're saying those things don't matter. And they do matter. Because Heavenly Father specifically intended for you to be the way you are, and when someone compliments you, they're really just complimenting what He created. Remembering that is humility.

Anyways, that was my lightbulb moment for today!