Let's talk about what it really means to live with piety and humility — not in a heavy or overly religious way, but in a way that brings more peace, perspective, and freedom to your everyday life.
In this episode of the Summer with the Holy Spirit series, you'll learn how the gift of piety invites you to embrace your dependence on God — not because you're weak or failing, but because He is strong and faithful. When you lean into this gift, humility starts to flow more naturally — not the kind that makes you feel small or unworthy, but the kind that frees you from striving, comparing, or trying to prove yourself.
We'll unpack what humility really looks like (with wisdom from St. Thérèse of Lisieux and C.S. Lewis) and how to live it out — even on busy days when you feel anything but "spiritual."
Here's what you'll walk away with:
🙏 A fresh, simple definition of piety that helps you reconnect with God 🕊️ A better understanding of humility — as thinking of yourself less, not putting yourself down 🌸 5 practical ways to live out this gift in your daily life:
- ⛅ Embrace your limitations instead of resenting them
- ✨ Let go of the pressure to be seen or validated
- 🤲 Look for quiet ways to serve others with love
- 🙅♀️ Stop apologizing for being human
- 💐 Offer small, ordinary acts as worship
If you've been feeling stretched thin or stuck in comparison, this episode will help you reset your heart, remember who you are, and find peace in letting God be big — so you don't have to be.
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As we are continuing in our Summer with the Holy
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Spirit series, today we're going to talk about the gift of
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piety and how it invites us into a deeper,
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more beautiful kind of humility. And I get
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that piety and humility might sound like heavy church
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words, but I want you to stay with me because this isn't about
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performing perfect prayers or putting yourself down,
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but it's really about returning to our rightful place before God
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with awe and love and total trust.
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It's learning about seeing ourselves as small, not because
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we're insignificant, but because God is so good, so
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holy and so able. And he delights in meeting
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us in our smallness. He delights in our dependence upon
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Him. So we're also going to talk about how this gift plays out in our
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daily lives, not just in quiet prayer, but but in how we show
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up as moms, as women, as daughters of God. And we're
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going to lean into and learn from the wisdom of Saint Therese of
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Lisieux and explore how, in the words of C.S. lewis,
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humility isn't thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of
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ourselves less so we can see God more clearly and
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love others more freely. Welcome to
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the Nourish to Bloom podcast where your faith Meet yout Health.
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I'm your host, Kara Trachta, a registered dietitian and certified
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Catholic coach, and I'm here to help you cultivate a deeper connection with your
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body, your spirit, and the nourishment that sustains them both
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in a world filled with noise and confusion about food,
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health and body image, this podcast offers truth and healing from
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a Christ centered perspective. Together we'll untangle the deep
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roots of diet culture and discover what it means to truly
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care for ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind,
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body and soul. We're here to dive into the transformative power of
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intuitive eating coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith.
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With every episode, I'll be cheering you on, offering insights,
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inspiration and practical tools to help you heal your
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relationship with food and embrace the beauty of your body as
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a temple of the Holy Spirit with confidence and courage
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that can only be found in Christ. Join me as we journey
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together towards a more holistic approach to wellness, one that honors the
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wisdom of your body as God's creation, the teachings of our
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faith, and the unique purpose you're called to fulfill.
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You were made to bloom, to come into
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full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit for the Lord with
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your life. So if you're ready to nourish your body, feed your soul
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and Bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're in the right place.
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And I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to Nourish
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to Bloom, where every day is a sacred invitation to
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thrive. Hey there. Welcome back to the
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Nourish to Bloom podcast. So happy to be spending some time with you this
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week and thanks again for joining me. We are
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continuing our series Summer with the Holy Spirit,
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and we are on our second to the last
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gift. Today we're going to be talking about the gift of piety. And it feels
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like, how is it possible that we've already spent
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six weeks together talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit? It just means the
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summer is going by so fast and, man, I think my kids are going to
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be starting school before we know it. I mean, I really look
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at the calendar now and I think like, this time in a month, they're going
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to be on their second day of school. So it just keeps going by faster
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and faster. But. But today we're going to really talk about
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the gift of piety and what that means. And
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when we talk about the gift of piety, a person with piety
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is someone who has reverence, right? And they
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recognize their total reliance on God and then
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comes and presents themselves before God with humility,
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trust and love. And so when I think about
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piety and I think about kind of like what, what it means, right? That
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total reliance, that surrender, it's I. We talk
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about how our lives are that collaboration, right?
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Like God is our ultimate co worker
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and how we, we have to put things into place.
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Like we have to take action, we have to do things. But then it's like
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God who takes it further, right? Like he. He multiplies
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that. Like, one of the most beautiful songs I think I've ever heard is the
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one called Symphony. I can't think of one what who the artist is,
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but just how like all the things, like our whole life, like
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all the things that happened, God was writing this beautiful symphony,
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right? He is the one who is orchestrating it, right?
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He's up there and he's leading it and he's directing it and he's putting these
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notes together that form our life. And it's just such a beautiful
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way to think about it. And when we think about piety, it's really about just
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kind of knowing who we are in that relationship with God, right?
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That we are, we are small and it's not because we're
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insignificant, but it's just that he is so capable
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and he. I mean, he can do anything Right. We think
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about the whole creation storm. We know that God can do anything. And then we
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look at what we can do and we realize that we are not God
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and that we shouldn't act like we're God either. And
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so it's just with piety, it's about understanding kind of where we are
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in this, right? That we can do things, that God calls us to do things,
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but he wants to do it with us and he wants to continue to magnify
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it and build upon the things that we are doing, right?
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And so the gift of piety is about having this filial
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affection for God. It's this deep love and
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reverence and respect for him and a desire to serve
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him as his beloved daughter because you know
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that you need him and that he
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wants to provide for you, right? So it's just, I think it
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deepens that relationship. And piety helps us approach
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God as a tender, loving father, not
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as this authority figure. It helps us to see
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others as our brothers and our sisters. And when this gift is alive
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in us, it naturally bears the fruit of humility, right?
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And if we think about piety as being able to really visualize
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God as this tender, loving father, I think we can look at
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our relationship with him in the same way that we can maybe look at our
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relationship of our children with us as their mother,
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right? When they are born, they are a hundred
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percent dependent upon us. They cannot do any of it,
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right? And they don't know any better. They don't know that this is like humility,
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that, that they can't do these things. But we start to see it as they
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get a little bit older and into those toddler years, right? Where they
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are so determined to do it
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on their own, right? They are so strong willed, they are so stubborn and
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they're going to do these things on their own until they hit that moment
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where they realize they can't and they have to come to us,
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right? And it's that, that humility that brings them to us.
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They understand their limit and then they know that they need
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help and they know that they need their moms to step in and
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intervene. And I think that's kind of how we can see this, this, see
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piety is that it's understanding that we have this,
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this responsibility to surrender to
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God that we can only do so much and that we have to
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surrender the rest to him, right? Because
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humility rooted in piety is saying like that you know
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who you are because you know whose you are.
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And it's not about Thinking less of yourself. It's about
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thinking of yourself rightly in relationship with
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God and in light of God's truth. But I think a lot of us
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can confuse humility with insecurity or
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self neglect. Thinking things like, I'm not as put together
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as her, or I shouldn't speak up because I don't know enough, or
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I'm failing at this whole motherhood or wellness thing. Because we
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live in a culture that often says, you are what you achieve,
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or your worth is tied to your body, your productivity, or your
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highlight reel. And there's this pressure to always
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be better, to do more, to be more
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perfect, right? But what humility is saying
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is it's this reminder and it's this
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embodiment that you are allowed to
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be in process and in progress, that you
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don't have to have it all figured out and that God is
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not disappointed because of your dependence
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on Him. In fact, he desires it, right? And I
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think that's the whole point, right? If we go back to this, we are allowed
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to be in process and progress.
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That's our whole life, right? We don't just wake
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up one day and have it all figured out. Like, if we did that, if
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we got to a point where, like, we just had it all figured out, then
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where is God in our lives, right? This idea of
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humility is knowing that there's a progress and process. And because of
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that, we are going to always have this relationship
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with God and we are always going to have a dependence on
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Him. And this
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mindset shift helps us to let go of those
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comparison traps or those perfectionist tendencies.
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We stop striving to prove our worth and we start
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instead living in the truth of who God made us to be,
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with our unique gifts, our weaknesses,
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our specific needs, and our own unique design
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and our own unique mission. And true
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humility, the kind that the Holy Spirit cultivates through piety, is
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not about comparison or shame. It's about recognizing
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and accepting that we have limitations. Because
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those limitations are what allow us to recognize
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God's unlimited goodness and grace working
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in and through us when we have something come to fulfillment,
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right? We know that it's because he is filling
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that right. He is taking those limitations
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and filling in any of those gaps.
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And in her little way, Saint Therese of Lisio
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beautifully shows us this kind of humility. Because for her,
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humility wasn't about pretending to be smaller than she was.
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It was more about trusting that whatever good she
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had came from God and that she could rest in that
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right. That everything that she did, no matter the magnitude
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of it, was for God.
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And so how can we live out this kind of humility?
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Because it's not false modesty, it's not about belittling
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yourself, it's not about beating yourself up, but it's about
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this kind of like holy smallness,
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right? And so I want to share just a couple of ways that you can
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begin practicing humility in, in your daily life and
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how this humility is the fruit of the gift of
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piety. It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit infusing
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you with this piety, infusing you with this
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ability to recognize your dependence on God.
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So the first one is to embrace your littleness before God.
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So take a moment each day to sit quietly and really
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remind yourself that you are not God, let God be
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God. And that is really actually good news,
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right? St. Therese said that it is enough to recognize
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one's nothingness and to abandon oneself like a child in the
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arms of God. So instead of trying to be everything
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for everyone, just start the day with this, this
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prayer. Jesus, I am little, but I am yours. And that
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I trust you to be big in my life today.
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Let go of the spotlight. So piety rooted
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humility calls us to think less about ourselves
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and not in a self loathing way, but in a almost kind of self
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forgetful way. And so this really looks like
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answering some of these questions or challenging yourself. Can you
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serve without needing to be seen, without needing to be
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recognized for whatever it is that you did? Can you
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celebrate another woman's win without being
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insecure about yourself or jealous?
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Can you show up with your, can you show up for your family without
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needing recognition? And I know this one's hard, right?
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Because ladies, sometimes it feels like it's all on us to do all the
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things. And it's like, I just wish someone saw this. I just wish someone would
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recognize the effort that I'm putting in.
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But when we take a step back and we do this in,
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in loving service, we don't, we don't need that
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recognition because we recognize that God sees it
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and he sees us in our smallness and, and allows us to approach him with
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his humility of the things that we are doing.
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So ask the Holy Spirit to help you choose that quiet yes,
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the invisible offering that no one notices but God.
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Number three, put others first, but without
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losing yourself. Humility does
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not mean becoming a doormat, but it does
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mean orienting your heart outward
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just as Jesus did. So can you let your
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spouse speak without correcting? Can you
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pause Your scrolling or your to do list or your
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chores to truly listen to your child,
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can you release your need to be right or in control?
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These small moments of this sacrificial love
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is really where we let that humility shine.
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Number four, stop act. Stop apologizing
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for your limits. You were never meant to be
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limitless. That's God's role. So instead of
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beating yourself up for not doing enough, instead, thank
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God for the limits that lead you back to Him.
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Because humility means that you can say, I can't do it all.
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And you say that without being ashamed, without beating
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yourself up. You say it with compassion and mercy because you
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trust that God can and will provide.
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And number five, practice the little way, right? Inspired
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by St. Therese's little way, choose one ordinary act today
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to offer silently to God. Whether that's doing the dishes,
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folding laundry, answering an email, not
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for the attention or the praise, but as a quiet act of love.
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I love this, guys. Humility is not a downgrade. It's a
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freedom, right? It frees us from the pretending.
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It frees us from the performing. It frees us from the
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comparison and the striving. And it allows us to live
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aligned and in right order with God. And it roots
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us in who we truly are. We are
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beloved daughters of a good Father. We are
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empowered and infused by the Holy Spirit.
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And we are carried by grace, not our own efforts.
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And when we do this, we can really, really hold onto that
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idea that God's plan for us takes a
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lifetime, right? And when we realize that, that we don't have
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to have it all figured out, but that his plan for us takes a
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lifetime and that we're doing this with him, it allows us to
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show up with that humility and kindly just ask the Lord,
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what do you want? Where do you want me? Right? What do I do today?
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And then allowing him to work, allowing him
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to let your life be that
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symphony that he is writing. So thanks again
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for joining me today. I hope that you take these five
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practical things and at least implement one in this next
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week. And I hope you have a beautiful and blessed week week.
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And remember, beauty held is a seed, beauty shared is a
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flower. It is your time to bloom. I'll see you right back here next
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week for our last episode of the Summer with the Holy
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Spirit series. Until then, take care and we'll talk soon. Bye.