PRIDE

Last week I experienced two forms of pride. Yes, two. During our workshop this past week we had the students take some time to examine their pride. We took a list of examples from the book Brokenness: The Heart God Revives by Nancy Leigh Demoss. Here are a few “ouchies” for me:

*Proud people desire to be known as a success.
*Broken people are motivated to be faithful and to make others successful.

*Proud people have a drive to be recognized and appreciated for their efforts.
*Broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; they are thrilled that God would use them at all.

*Proud people have a hard time saying “I was wrong; will you please forgive me?”
*Broken people are quick to admit their failure and to seek forgiveness when necessary.

These are only a few to describe me…I’ll keep the rest for my journal! What was really cool though was that after we took some time alone, everyone got back with their team and shared some things that described them…a way to let down the wall of pride in their life. Not easy, but necessary if you want to live in true community.

While I was realizing the sinful pride that lies within me, I was also feeling very proud of the students. We had our weekly sharing time and at the end I was trying to tell them to break up into small groups to pray, but I couldn’t quite get all the words out of my mouth without having the tears start. (another thing you need to know about me…I cry easily…especially when it comes to people I care about) I just couldn’t help the feeling of being completely overwhelmed with pride by how far these students have come this summer. People shared about moving forward in relationships with their parents-learning to love them and be open with them, people were sharing about how God was using them to touch their co-workers and one shared about overcoming fear and starting a conversation about God with a homeless man. What an amazing gift I’ve been given…I have the chance to be a part of these students’ lives.