Pride

So I'm sitting here, slowly fixing my chmod -R mistake...what would I do without UNIX scripts...

I've been thinking about this thing we called pride. What is pride? Well...dictionary.com defines pride as...

- A group of lions (resist urge to start talking about animals...)
- Best of a group
- Something that causes a person or persons to be proud
- Pleasure or satisfaction taken in something done by or belonging to oneself or believed to reflect credit upon oneself
- a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc (ie, in the state of being proud)

Pride is cited as one of the Seven Cardinal Sins, and is traditionally attributed (correct me if I'm wrong) as the cause of the Fall, back in the day. It blinds one to the Grace of God (believe it or not, I'm reading this off wikipedia. lol), and to the worth of others. In fact, pride is so...big, that I can't describe humbleness without first saying it's the opposite to pride.

Nowadays, we don't have apples that decides the fate of the human race...but we do have our things. Our marks. Our looks. Our intelligence. Our social status. Our economical status. Our skills. Our talents. Our..whatever. Some of these are obvious. Maybe some of the people with great amounts of physical substance would admit of being proud of it as well. Maybe they think it's okay. *shrug*

Dangerous stuff isn't the physical stuff, cuz everyone can see it and bring it up if the dude gets too out of hand. Dangerous stuff is head-pride. The subtle things. The thing that trips us up after the fact, and we don't even realize it sometimes. You know what I'm talking about. I'm as guilty of this as the next guy. When someone elects to go to someone else for help. When you're trying to drop a hint that isn't getting picked up, and getting annoyed cuz they can't see the "obvious". When you step into a group and believe you can single-handedly change things (yup...a bit of pride there too). It's one of those things that are different for everyone...yet the same at the same time...

Even so, I find it difficult to blast at all form of pride. Afterall, can't I be proud of my friends when they achieve something great? Can't I be proud of my church and fellowship when they're making an impact? I probably could. Providing that I remember a very simple fact. A very simple fact that I forget too often and take for granted:

God provides.