Pride

 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Eph. 4:2

I find that the downfall to many families or relationships is pride.  When it's all about "me, me, me," you can't see the other person's needs.  And after a while, you begin to not hardly see the other person at all.  Life will not be very fun when you only see "your wants" "your needs" "your hurts" "your joys" etc. Life is enjoyable when you are sharing your life with someone and they are sharing theirs with you.  I was reading Philippians 2 today, and I was really convicted by verses 3-5.

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus."

I asked myself do I always make sure I humbly count others more significant than myself?  Let's just take it to my inner circle of my family who I love the most in the world.  Are their interests always first?  Am I showing them daily the kind of sacrificial love of Christ?  Some days I do, but there are still days that I am consumed with myself.  To be the best wife and mother I can be, there has to be no selfish ambition.  I'm not serving my family to get them to love me more, but I am serving them just because I love them.  I want them to be happy.  I want them to know they are loved!

One of my greatest fears is that I would be so prideful that I would make my family miss out on a blessing. What if God is trying to lift us up in His time, and I miss it because of pride. 

1 Peter 5:6, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."

To fix my fear, all I have to do is humble myself.   And guess what?  God wants to help me be humble.  Ps. 25:9, "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way." He will teach me the right way to love people.  All I have to do is bow my heart to God.  Deny myself, pick up my cross, and follow Him.  Isn't it great that when I am weak, He will make me strong!  I become strong by being humble.  I can become the strong Christian woman He has called me to be by getting rid of pride. 

Who doesn't want their family to be the best they can be?  Who doesn't want good relationships with co-workers?  Who doesn't want their ministry to all about bringing glory to God?  What is stopping us?  Pride!  As all good southerners say, "It doesn't have to be my way or the highway."  Just stop. And really look and listen to what is happening to those around you.  Then look out for their interests.  And when needed, be like Jesus and scrub some dirty feet (scrubbing feet is my equivalent to cleaning a toilet). Do whatever needs to be done.  Humble yourself.  Be COMPLETELY Humble and Gentle...not just kind of or on some days. Always be completely humble and gentle. Bear with one another in love!