Pride

Have you ever noticed how pride can really destroy everything? Pride gets in the way of an apology, increasing the tension in a marriage; pride is the hurdle truth sometimes cannot leap over; pride does not release you to let go of whatever “it” you are holding on to. Pride is loud when it should be silent, puffing itself up out of proportion. Pride is the most deafening silence when love needs to be vocal.

I find myself in the school of humility, often unaware of and even oblivious to lessons needed to be learned. I live life day in and day out with never ending lists of demands that need my attention. Some are admittedly self-imposed. Other boxes to check off are essential or else we do not eat.

This evening, in the midst of taking a short break after my shoe-hider and furniture gymnast went to bed, I was mentally giving myself a pep talk and formulating a plan of attack on the kitchen, when I heard dishes clanking and water running. My insides turned. The only person who could be in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and doing my job was our guest from Austria. Pride penetrated by heart and mind just as quickly as gasoline burns when a match is lit. “I must come across lazy and incompetent. I can’t even manage my own household!” were the lyrics of pride’s song.
But tonight I had the ears to hear God’s song. “You are tired and weary. Let me take care of the “to-do’s.” Child, let go and let me bless.” Clanking dishes kept beat and running water put out pride’s fire. So I joined our guest in the kitchen and worked on the to-do’s of the evening, but instead of an attack, it was more like a dance.