Pride: What It Means To Stand In Your Own Way

Introduction:

Welcome my friend,

It may seem as though the days have switched up the gears so that a week now feels like a day.

Indeed, one could easily think that it was just yesterday that we were here together, yet we've actually moved from one Friday to another one, before which, of course, I wouldn't show up.

So it's safe to call me the weekend friend.

Thanks for not minding though and for remaining welcoming regardless; showing up here to spend this time with me.

What an honour it is to call such a consistent individual my friend.

Discussion:

Every human being has their dignity and honour which means that we all want to be treated with respect.

This is our pride.

It's the self recognition that we're enough and deserving of our basic rights without feeling less of ourselves or intimidated by anybody; even unintentionally.

Quite simply, pride is healthy self esteem.

However, like most things in life, when modesty is absent, good can become bad.

Our conversation today is therefore focused on pride as it concerns the hurdles we encounter when we allow it to give us an exaggerated sense of importance.

■ More Emphasis On Pride

Pride is a virtue because it allows us to act in ways that align with our values, origin and identity.

As in our family legacy, social group and organizational codes of conduct, national values and so on.

This means that it's the sense of responsibility that we bear in our interactions with others, aware that we're representatives of the various levels of society that we're rooted in or attached to.

In its finest form, this can inspire us to be our best as we try to keep up with an already established reputation or create a good first impression on someone for ourselves and those like us that may come after us.

Another upside of pride is that it allows us to have and enforce our boundaries since we have standards of behaviours that we consider unacceptable; and along which we're not interested in relating to or engaging with others.

Most importantly, pride gives us a sense of self worth which is key for any individual to have the self confidence to go after their dreams and create the lives they want.

After all, to achieve, you must first believe.

This is the relationship between pride and passion.

■ When Pride Becomes The Enemy

Once pride becomes arrogant, it's set for humiliation and destruction.

While it's good to be aware of our self worth and identity, it doesn't mean that we should treat others less because we feel they don't measure up to us by our mostly self serving standards.

This is what we do when we discriminate against others based on their nationality or race.

It's the same when we use our position to oppress others.

When we do this, we show that the same pride in one's identity that pushes a person to be good ambassadors of their origin can easily be the same reason they're racist when that pride assumes its extreme form.

It's the same way a police officer's pride in his job that pushes him to be brave in the face of life threatening danger can be the reason he feels above the law.

As basic as these two (2) instances are, what they both show is how pride and passion can mix to become egotistical; and this extends to all facets of life.

This is what makes a man an enemy of himself because the same thing that drives him becomes the same thing that destroys him.

Quite simply, a man's pride if not properly checked sets him up for his own downfall.

■ Some Signs Of Pride

Confidence isn't arrogant and loud doesn't mean bold.

When we move around talking down on other people we may feel good because we can “do what we want ” but it makes us appear unreasonable and immature.

In the same vein, criticism isn't a personal attack and taking corrections doesn't mean we're dumb.

Many times a person can pass up a learning opportunity because they barely rate the person trying to pass on their knowledge or point out an error - this is prideful and maybe foolish.

Everyone is talented and skilled differently so it's only wise that in certain areas we listen to folks who are more inclined in them than us.

Another common sign of pride is becoming antagonistic to authority because we're not in authority or sabotaging efforts in group settings because other people had better opinions than us.

The most ignored sign of pride though and maybe its darker sign is the unhappiness and jealousy we feel towards those we think have the spotlight or attention we crave.

Truth is, when recognition and popularity comes to a person genuinely, they're rather humbled by it.

■ How We Stay Grounded

As humans it's easy to feel shame when we feel we don't measure up and egotistical when we feel we've got something to show.

This shouldn't be so.

For us as believers, we base our pride on our identity as children of God.

This is the kind of pride that gives us the confidence to go through life with the conviction that we can do all things through him.

However, it also means that we can remain humble in spite of all that because we recognize our responsibility to relate with others in humility as good ambassadors of our heavenly kingdom.

This is how we stay grounded.

When we remind ourselves that God created everyone of us, we understand that race doesn't matter and indeed we're not in control of the colour we assume or the place we're born.

When we remind ourselves that we all have different roles to play in order for life to maintain its balance, we can appreciate our respective vocations and craft and the relevance of the seemingly smaller ones to the success of the more significant ones.

To stay grounded is to understand that we're all mere custodians of whatever we have because the main source of everything is God, who has released his possessions to each of us in different measures.

This is why we must never belittle those with less but rather share what we have with them.

■ The Ultimate Pride 

When we reject God's will to follow our own good planning, we miss out on his perfect plan for us.

When we choose our logical reasoning over faith, what we're saying is that we know more than our maker.

How many things in life can we control?

Yet somehow we doubt the one that does.

Man's ultimate pride is rooted in the folly that he can save himself yet only God can save man as he makes his life easy for him afterwards.

All he just has to do is believe.

Summary:

Our pride is what makes us who we are but when it's not rooted in our divine origin it blows us away as we become boastful from our achievements.

When we succeed outside of God we defeat his aim of using us for his Glory.

God created us to worship him so he frowns at pride which is our own way of adoring ourselves.

Once again dear friend we've had another good conversation that points us to something relatable and thought provoking.

Which is the idea that we should hold on to our pride without becoming prideful.

I hope you give it some thought my friend.

Master Apprentice.

www.x.com/truekingmaker