It is so wonderful to have pride in certain things and people in my life, like I'm proud that my husband is a kind and generous man; I'm proud that my daughter is highly intelligent, loving and happy; I'm proud of the myriad of things my family and friends accomplish in their lives; etc.
Pride can also cause a lot of heartache, anger and tension, like pride that I have in myself - "pride unto boasting". It is so difficult to be with me when I am prideful, and it is excruciating to me when I am around prideful people. When I am prideful, the pain of my own pride comes when I finally chose to humble myself and recognize that there is only One who is truly 'all that'! However, when I am with a prideful person, in that moment it hurts so much that I can almost feel my heart break. Either way, I oft times respond in anger, and the tension between 'me and thee' is so thick that it acts like an impenetrable wall keeping us apart.
When I am prideful, I need to be reminded of my thinking and actions toward others so that I can beg for forgiveness from those I have offended, and especially from my Heavenly Father for my offense. When I am with a prideful someone, sometimes it's all I can do to remain patient with that someone; my only other recourse seems to be to pray to my Heavenly Father to soften their heart, and pray for increased patience in myself until they and I are both humbled sufficiently to allow love to again flow between us, removing and blocking out the evil, hurt, anger, and offense that Satan would have us feel.
I write this as my own personal reminder and therapy to be more humble and prayerful in my life so that it will be easier to overcome pride in myself and the effects another's pride has on me; more particularly, to become more able to resist the temptation of pride in the first place.
5 comments:
Good thoughts. That darn 'pride' is a twin sister of 'selfishness,' and they walk around arm in arm pushing everybody down.
I fall into the trap of wanting to 'fix' the other person, (also known as making them see it my way) Best thing I've learned is to not engage at all. Or as they say in the original Karate Kid, "Best defense: No Be There."
Mom, I used your idea of saying, "Thank you for your input," when recently accosted by pride. Thank you for that suggestion. It allowed me to walk away, leaving both pride and anger behind.
Nice...sometimes all we need is the right phrase to use at the right time. :)
darn those pushy sisters, they make a mess of so many people. I have played part as a pushy "selfish sister" and possibly the other one too, what was her name?? "prideful?" they are a dangerous duo not to be underestimated or trifled with. I hope that you remain prayerful and humble, those brothers walk around arm and arm and when seen together the pushy "selfish and prideful" sisters run and hide... good luck.
Jennis, thanks for reminding me of the brothers - need to call on them during prideful situations, and not just scary ones.
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