Praying for Humility?

I have often heard it said that one should not pray for patience, since the only way to grow in patience is to be placed in difficult situations in which patience is required! Murray writes of this same sort of thing with humility. I pray for it, but I am often frustrated by my lack of humility when the difficult situation calls for it. Murray has encouraging words for those who are are likewise discouraged:

"But let us not be discouraged! Let the discovery of the lack of this grace stir us to larger expectation from God. Let us look upon every brother who tries or vexes us as God's means of grace, God's instrument for our purification, for our exercise of the humility Jesus our life breathes within us. And let us have such faith in the All of God, and the nothing of self, that as nothing in our own eyes, we may, in God's power, only seek to serve one another in love."

What a wonderful attitude to keep in mind in every conversation. May God graciously write this on my heart!