Have you ever experienced that right between the eyes, nose cracking, head jarring punch from God? The punch that makes you instantly realize how much of a brat you sound like. The headache inducing truth that your true colors are not so pretty. The guilt-ridden punch that brings the sober realization that you dropped the ball, followed by the even worse realization that you never picked it back up. The hit that leaves a black eye and a swollen nose for weeks, only to remind you every time you look in the mirror that you totally deserved it. I know that punch all too well.
Maybe for you it isn't a punch; some would call it conviction. Others, just an impression or a wake up call. I think Oprah would call it an 'Ah-ha' moment. My roommates have discussed it as "a two by four to the face".
If you haven't had one of these moments then your pride might be in the way. It takes some humility to put yourself in the position to be assaulted by your failures. Ultimately these encounters always lead to a similar conclusion; I'm a selfish know-it-all who really knows nothing at all.
If you're searching for something but avoid looking in the obvious place you'll never get anywhere. We begin to blame the dog or our brother, whine incessantly, stomp around and create sentences strictly made of vulgarities and look in the same places 10 times. Finally, fuming from the ears we look under the mail we've procrastinated looking through and BAM! [Enter punch in face]. This is how we walk through scenarios in our everyday lives; blaming, whining, stomping, and looking to the same things for answers with no avail.
I'm the first to admit that I certainly play out this scene in my own life. Truth is, when we climb down from our pedestals of pride and arrogance it's often a revealing experience. The revelation varies depending on the circumstances you find yourself in, but overall the result should be a new/changed outlook. The whole concept of an in-your-face moment like this isn't to wake up the next day and experience it all over again, it's to cultivate change. It pushes you to a new level of some kind...typically a better level than where you're at now.
Pride acts like a stumbling block. It doesn't care about your future or others. It's selfish and ignorant. And living in pride is like walking up the down escalator. You will never get to the top. Humility however, greases the way for other virtues. When we're humble enough to admit our faults, conquer our anger, or face our failures, we allow people to forgive us-- to love us--to learn from us. No one looks at their hero and says, "that person hasn't accomplished or overcome anything in their life, I want to be just like them."
A heroic life is one in which a selfish person (because come on, we are all innately selfish people) overcomes pride, circumstances, difficulties and decides to live life to a higher standard. Instead of blaming others, spewing hate, complaints, outrage, and jealousy, a hero lives selflessly. They serve, love and help those around them with no other reason than it's the right thing to do.
Higher standard living requires us to allow elements of pride to become points of growth which lift us to the next level of life, rather than walls or barriers.
I once heard a speaker say you preach your own funeral. What he meant was, no one is going to get up in front of a crowd of people and make stuff up about you. Your life speaks for itself. Sometimes a good knuckle sandwich is simply reality's way of saying the mundane standard isn't going to cut it. Ouch. That one's gonna leave a mark.
Maybe for you it isn't a punch; some would call it conviction. Others, just an impression or a wake up call. I think Oprah would call it an 'Ah-ha' moment. My roommates have discussed it as "a two by four to the face".
If you haven't had one of these moments then your pride might be in the way. It takes some humility to put yourself in the position to be assaulted by your failures. Ultimately these encounters always lead to a similar conclusion; I'm a selfish know-it-all who really knows nothing at all.
If you're searching for something but avoid looking in the obvious place you'll never get anywhere. We begin to blame the dog or our brother, whine incessantly, stomp around and create sentences strictly made of vulgarities and look in the same places 10 times. Finally, fuming from the ears we look under the mail we've procrastinated looking through and BAM! [Enter punch in face]. This is how we walk through scenarios in our everyday lives; blaming, whining, stomping, and looking to the same things for answers with no avail.
I'm the first to admit that I certainly play out this scene in my own life. Truth is, when we climb down from our pedestals of pride and arrogance it's often a revealing experience. The revelation varies depending on the circumstances you find yourself in, but overall the result should be a new/changed outlook. The whole concept of an in-your-face moment like this isn't to wake up the next day and experience it all over again, it's to cultivate change. It pushes you to a new level of some kind...typically a better level than where you're at now.
Pride acts like a stumbling block. It doesn't care about your future or others. It's selfish and ignorant. And living in pride is like walking up the down escalator. You will never get to the top. Humility however, greases the way for other virtues. When we're humble enough to admit our faults, conquer our anger, or face our failures, we allow people to forgive us-- to love us--to learn from us. No one looks at their hero and says, "that person hasn't accomplished or overcome anything in their life, I want to be just like them."
A heroic life is one in which a selfish person (because come on, we are all innately selfish people) overcomes pride, circumstances, difficulties and decides to live life to a higher standard. Instead of blaming others, spewing hate, complaints, outrage, and jealousy, a hero lives selflessly. They serve, love and help those around them with no other reason than it's the right thing to do.
Higher standard living requires us to allow elements of pride to become points of growth which lift us to the next level of life, rather than walls or barriers.
I once heard a speaker say you preach your own funeral. What he meant was, no one is going to get up in front of a crowd of people and make stuff up about you. Your life speaks for itself. Sometimes a good knuckle sandwich is simply reality's way of saying the mundane standard isn't going to cut it. Ouch. That one's gonna leave a mark.
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