Pride cometh before the fall!
It is interesting to me that a sentence, phrase or verse, which has been stored in my memory for many years, will suddenly make a cameo appearance in my consciousness. Thus, I was not surprised when a phrase, a version of which is found in James 4:6, I Peter 5:5 and Proverbs stopped to visit this morning. In James 4:6 (KJV)one finds, “But he giveth more grace, Wherefore he saith. God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble.” In I Peter 5:5 one finds, “…for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” In the Book of Proverbs, 16:18 (KJV) “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
I am not personally acquainted with anyone who boasts a pyramid, the takeover of a country, a $200,000.00 car or even, as I read this morning, a 21 million mansion plus the cost of renovation and decorating to prove their worth. Yet, many of us can use clothes, plastic surgery, education, job titles or trucks with big tires and souped up engines to try to prove our worth.
The most common way of attempting to prove our worth may be to assert our worth relative to others. We may think our color; our race or our nationality makes us superior. We may think that lack of common addictions (alcohol, drugs, sex, food) or our lack of obvious mental illness proves that we are superior.
We may go to great length to prove that we are indeed more attractive as a potential partner by camouflaging our history. We may hide arrests, jail time, and treatment for addiction or mental illness, time off work to heal or other significant parts of our history. Of course, there may be time when general prejudice demands that we restrict knowledge of our past in order to get a decent job. Yet, we will be open with family and quietly take pride in the courage it takes to allow time out for healing from active addiction, mental illness or some other disease/condition. We know that we have grown spiritually by dealing with some past struggle or hardship.
Most spiritual teachers and other wise elders warn us about the futility of false pride. It is a challenge to learn to identify and nurture our particular talents without believing that we are those talents. The difference between I have been given a talent and I am that talent is huge.
Humility allows me to take pride is accepting my strengths and limitations without thinking that they prove or limit my worth. Paradoxically the more humble I am the more freedom I have to identify and use my particular talents while celebrating the talents of other members of the community.
Mark Twain is purported to have said, “I never let school interfere with my education.” My memory (accurately or inaccurately) says that Mark Twain asserted that the truly educated and humble person could spend the day with a hobo/homeless person and learn something and then spend the evening at a While House dinner learning something. He took pride in being the same man no matter where he was or what he was doing. (I searched but could not locate the exact quote, but I suspect Mr. Twain will not mind if I have misquoted him.)
Written February 7, 2018
It is interesting to me that a sentence, phrase or verse, which has been stored in my memory for many years, will suddenly make a cameo appearance in my consciousness. Thus, I was not surprised when a phrase, a version of which is found in James 4:6, I Peter 5:5 and Proverbs stopped to visit this morning. In James 4:6 (KJV)one finds, “But he giveth more grace, Wherefore he saith. God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble.” In I Peter 5:5 one finds, “…for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” In the Book of Proverbs, 16:18 (KJV) “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
I am not personally acquainted with anyone who boasts a pyramid, the takeover of a country, a $200,000.00 car or even, as I read this morning, a 21 million mansion plus the cost of renovation and decorating to prove their worth. Yet, many of us can use clothes, plastic surgery, education, job titles or trucks with big tires and souped up engines to try to prove our worth.
The most common way of attempting to prove our worth may be to assert our worth relative to others. We may think our color; our race or our nationality makes us superior. We may think that lack of common addictions (alcohol, drugs, sex, food) or our lack of obvious mental illness proves that we are superior.
We may go to great length to prove that we are indeed more attractive as a potential partner by camouflaging our history. We may hide arrests, jail time, and treatment for addiction or mental illness, time off work to heal or other significant parts of our history. Of course, there may be time when general prejudice demands that we restrict knowledge of our past in order to get a decent job. Yet, we will be open with family and quietly take pride in the courage it takes to allow time out for healing from active addiction, mental illness or some other disease/condition. We know that we have grown spiritually by dealing with some past struggle or hardship.
Most spiritual teachers and other wise elders warn us about the futility of false pride. It is a challenge to learn to identify and nurture our particular talents without believing that we are those talents. The difference between I have been given a talent and I am that talent is huge.
Humility allows me to take pride is accepting my strengths and limitations without thinking that they prove or limit my worth. Paradoxically the more humble I am the more freedom I have to identify and use my particular talents while celebrating the talents of other members of the community.
Mark Twain is purported to have said, “I never let school interfere with my education.” My memory (accurately or inaccurately) says that Mark Twain asserted that the truly educated and humble person could spend the day with a hobo/homeless person and learn something and then spend the evening at a While House dinner learning something. He took pride in being the same man no matter where he was or what he was doing. (I searched but could not locate the exact quote, but I suspect Mr. Twain will not mind if I have misquoted him.)
Written February 7, 2018
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