Pride. Good or bad? I sometimes wonder. The pride that makes a person do their job well, this seems a good thing. The pride that prevents a person from saying I'm sorry? Probably not so good.
Does Heavenly Father feel pride? I'm often proud of my family. My sister Mellinee is a beautiful, successful woman who graduated at the top of her piloting class and she is now a pilot of small bush planes. I was so happy and proud when she recieved her license! She worked so long and hard for it. My brother Chad is going back to school with a wife and two children! I can't even imagine going to school with two children. I'm proud of him for that. Or when I'm at his house and he is kind to his son when Kaleb disobeys. My sister Connie has a degree but she chooses to stay at home with her two sweet babies. She has so much patience. She's an example to me in so many ways. My brother Troy didn't care what people said, he came home from his mission and got married without finishing school. People said he was an idiot but he did what he thought was best. I'm not sure I would be able to do that. I'm proud of him basing his decisions on what he believes is best. Does Heavenly Father feel this type of pride? I know that He counsels against pride. Does this count? Is it wicked to look at my family and be proud of the people that they are?
If it is pride, then I wonder, if I refuse to give up this one sin, will I be denied the joys of heaven? And lastly...is it weird that I think about this sorta thing so much? :)
If you are weird, you are wonderfully so! I think I love you because you are so much like me. Can I tell you what I do about prideful feelings like you describe? I realize that I really didn't have a whole lot to do with most of the things you described above that illicited feelings you identified as pride, so I have no right to be proud about them, so I decided that Heavenly Father has honored me be allowing me to be so closely associated with these good people in my life. So I am not proud. I am honored. If it is something that I have done myself to be proud of, then when I start feeling a little prideful (if I can remember to before I get to carried away in pride and have to be humbled!) I stop and remember how much Heavenly Father helped me to reach the point I am feeling prideful about and I give him the glory for what I have accomplished because truly I cannot do anything without his help -- truly I cannot.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mommy. You raise me up.
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