I saw this picture on Instagram yesterday
and felt really challenged by it.
Pride is something that’s been on my mind a
lot recently. Don’t you think it’s weird how you could never think about
something, then all of a sudden can’t get it out of your mind? It happens to me
a lot and I usually end up writing about it here anyway… So why stop now?
I had been speaking to some friends and
through our conversation I came to the realisation that I had started to become
prideful. It was a particular situation that I was explaining and their
response was so simple, “Emma, do you think that could just be your pride
that’s making it a problem?” I knew they were right. The scary thing about
pride is that you don’t really notice it until someone else points it out. But
that’s exactly what pride is like. It is so busy looking out at others wrongs
that it distracts from addressing its own.
I think I have mainly taken on the first
three characteristics from the list of pride.
My problem is that when I am having a hard
time I end up feeling like the whole world is against me and instead of
looking inwards to see what I could do to grow and learn, I look outwards to
blame others for my situation and hope that them changing will make me feel
better.
You can take my word for it, it doesn’t
work. We all do it, and I know I’ll probably do it again, but the more I
recognise it the more I’ll think twice before reacting outwardly instead of
looking inwardly.
I watched the film 'A family That Preys' last
week. I know it’s old but I had never seen it before.
It demonstrates so
perfectly the difference between pride and humility. Two sisters have a
completely different outlook on life, one is prideful and the other is full of
humility. The prideful one has all the money and possessions but she is empty
inside and her pridefulness drives a wedge between her and her family and
husband. The other sister lives a far simpler life and is so humble. She is
caring of others and always encouraging. She takes time to hear and
understand people that she doesn’t know and because of all of this she is much happier.
But don’t be mistaken, pride and humility
doesn’t depend on your bank balance. You can be prideful with not a penny in
the bank and you can be humble but the richest person alive. It is a heart
issue. We need to keep it in check. You may not think your pride is causing
an issue, but pride is like a weed that grows quickly and before you know it it's
out of control. You’ve got to un-root, not just once, but every single time it
rears its head! (Trust me, it'll try and make a comeback!!)
Humility doesn't mean you should be putting yourself down though.The nature of humility is to celebrate others and always looks for ways to learn and grow, not sink in self-pity. It really is the most beautiful thing, even
better than nice hair and perfect makeup. It’s from the inside out, it can’t
fade away when you get old, and if you work at it, it will only get more and
more beautiful.
“Before his downfall a mans heart is proud,
but humility comes before honour”
Proverbs 18:12
Emma
xx
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