When I was a young boy, my dad often told me always to do
things well ---- in the classroom, on the sports field, and among my friends.
Time passed, and I realized that there were certain specific
activities and classroom subjects where I did excel, at least somewhat.
Perhaps most of us have had that experience.
At some point someone asked me if I was not proud of
what I could do well. I hadn't thought about that. But, YES, I was
proud of myself for exceeding my previous level of achievement, and for doing a
few things better than my peers. Now, the notion of PRIDE had been
brought into my awareness without any explanation of what it involved.
Being PROUD of myself gave me the warm feeling
of success. It did not seem to have any limits ---- it seemed to depend
only on what I was achieving.
Years later, I noticed that there were others around me who
were PROUD ---- proud of what they had or were then accomplishing.
But, I also saw that many of them seemed arrogant and conceited. I
realized that this virtue called "PRIDE" had a down-side if carried
too far. Why hadn't Dad warned me about this?!
I puzzled over how to find the right balance for my
PRIDE. Some degree of PRIDE certainly gives us a motivation to
excel. How much PRIDE is too much PRIDE? I finally decided that
PRIDE-under-control might have some net value.
Apparently, people get into difficulty with their PRIDE if
it becomes an inflated sense of their status or accomplishments. In other
words, as St. Augustine put it: "the love of one's own
excellence." Thus, the opposite of PRIDE would be either humility or
guilt. If we have a "healthy" sense of PRIDE, it seems to rest
somewhere between humility and the love of our own excellence.
The Bible says God has made us capable of achievement, but
that there is an attitude that arises naturally with achievement "that is
not of the Father, but of the world." To have victory over PRIDE,
therefore, is to excel and achieve without giving a place to this sinful worldly
attitude. In this way, suggests the Bible, it is similar to our being a
STEWARD over gifts from God. It is not the acquisition of success, the
Bible seems to suggest ---- it is our mental attitude that counts. Rather
than merely the attainment of success itself, it is the attitude of our heart
toward the acquisition that matters. Thus, we avoid the PRIDE of the
secular life and live in humble reliance on, and thankfulness to, God.
If we were to abandon some of our PRIDE as being too much of
a good thing, would we lose too much of the emotion that can facilitate our
attaining greater success in the use of the gifts given by God? After
all, PRIDE is an emotion that can help trigger and sustain focused effort to
make the best use of our gifts from God? By suppressing PRIDE even a
little, wouldn't we lose at least some of the pleasant, sometimes exhilarating
emotion that energizes us positively in meeting personal goals?
The awful irony is that the very vigor with which we
suppress PRIDE in ourselves will induce a hidden PRIDE in that very
effort. Will we not be proud of our attempts to get rid of PRIDE?
Is it ever possible to fully escape the "PRIDES of life"?
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage some spiritual growth for
you this Spring.
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