As a general rule of thumb, country music is one of my least favorite genres. Before you turn the page and leave me behind, you need to know, dear friend, occasionally there is a song that sneaks through and touches my soul. The storytelling ability along with the guitar chords sharing a melody and the down-home vocals sometimes transport me to a more honest and loving place. One such song is “Humble and Kind.” The lyrics were written by Lori McKenna and popularized by Tim McGraw.

The lyrics read, “Hold the door say please say thank you; don’t steal, don’t cheat and don’t lie; I know you got mountains to climb but; always stay humble and kind; when the dreams you’re dreamin’ come to you; when the work you put in is realized; let yourself feel the pride but always stay humble and kind.”

The song reveals a simple message that we all can be reminded is an important life lesson. It seems that all too often we don’t live by these simple rules of staying humble and kind. We wake up in the morning and stub our toe. Then turn around to discover that the auto-brew setting on the coffee pot did brew a pot of coffee but missed the carafe and has collected on the counter top and kitchen floor. Then we rush around trying to get our kids ready for school and realize that we, too, are running late for work. We rush to work and school to find ourselves caught behind a vehicle moving much too slowly. On and on, the perhaps typical but not life-giving scenario goes. It’s frustrating. It is also easy to allow those typical occurrences in life to bring us to a point of not being humble nor kind.

Does any of this sound familiar? Is this the person you want to be?

If it is familiar and it is not the person you want to be, I encourage you to take a step back. Take a seat and simply be and belong to that moment in time. Let your mind visualize what is important in the here-and-now? What are your dreams? What is life-giving to you?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe has been quoted saying, “If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” The same goes for how we treat ourselves, not just those around us. Being humble and kind is a great place for all of us to start becoming what we can be. So, dear friend, go out and make an active choice to be humble and kind.