Meekness

I've been thinking of meekness today. I had a conversation with my Indian friend, Sonia, last night and she truly embodies the word meekness. She explained some things about the Indian culture that would be maddening to me as an American, but she just quietly carries on.

She is a new mom and for the past few months her mother-in-law and father-in-law have been visiting to see the new baby. I asked about her own parents and if they had thought of making the long trip over to the United States to see her new country. Her parents have never been to the US, and I was fishing around to see if maybe Ben and I could help make that possible. She explained to me that when you marry, you are really in a new family. When you find out you are pregnant, you call your mother-in-law first, not your mother. You serve and give preference almost to your mother-in-law. It is against their culture for her mom and dad to come and visit her house for an extended amount of time. She said that when they lived in India that her parents would come and visit for one day. Her parents had to travel the distance of from Kansas City to New York to see her for that one day. Some Indians take it to an extreme and won't even accept water or food while they are in the house of their daughter. It would be considered taking from her new family, and they only want to give. It makes no sense to make the long and expensive trip to the US for her parents unless they can stay longer than a week. I offered an alternative that maybe they could stay with Ben and I and visit with them. She said that also would not work because people in India would find out and talk and they would be ashamed of that. So, her plan is to make the long journey to India with her baby to see her parents.

Meekness... I need more of that.