Making yourself small

In those days a child had little status. A child couldn't prove anything. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul uses the same verb for Jesus himself: he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. So Jesus asks nothing he didn't do himself.

Humbling yourself isn't looking down on yourself. It means dropping out of the contest over who counts. There is rest in that. You don't have to keep proving who you are.