Day 28 - Pride

Day 28 – Proverbs 21:21-26 ²¹ He who pursues righteousness and love
       finds life, prosperity ^[c] and honor.

 ²² A wise man attacks the city of the mighty
       and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.

 ²³ He who guards his mouth and his tongue
       keeps himself from calamity.

 ²⁴ The proud and arrogant man-"Mocker" is his name;
       he behaves with overweening pride.

 ²⁵ The sluggard's craving will be the death of him,
       because his hands refuse to work.

 ²⁶ All day long he craves for more,
       but the righteous give without sparing.

 

I can't really explain why these verses stuck out for me today. Today's mile took on a different form in shoveling snow. I was standing in the sun at one with God while I shoveled very deep snow. Normally I do not shovel snow because my husband normally does that for exercise. I would be happy to be at one with a snow blower but far be it from me to argue with him…until there are days like this. The poor man has been so sick and I did not want him to suffer outside.

 

Anyway, as I was sitting outside shoveling the deep snow and listening to the quiet, I was thinking especially about pride and how it can take you down in a moment. Do you know how many times pride is mentioned in the Bible?! It is mentioned a lot…and almost every time it is followed by someone deeply repenting. It is such a fine line to walk. How to do you live a life and be happy to use God's gifts and then not be prideful? I will be reflecting more on that over the next few weeks. This isn't so much of an area where I struggle but I am definitely around people that do. There are times when it is extremely difficult to be around someone that is prideful. How do you share that without hurting them deeply? I don't ever want to be someone that is so full of themselves that no one wants to be around me or worse, that my witness is ruined as a result.

I pray that we can all listen to God's leading in this area and know how to Biblically approach it whether we struggle with pride or whether someone else around us does.