You are doing pretty well. Everything seems to being going your way!
Then, you start becoming pretty proud of yourself. "Look at me!" and "Look at
what I did!" I don't need anyone or anything to help me...I did all this.
Next, you begin treating others differently. They aren't as powerful, as
good-looking, as _______________ (whatever else it might be, YOU fill in the
blank).
Soon, you get a little taste of humbling-pie. It might be a lower grade
than you expected or a not-so-ideal report elsewhere. Suddenly, you
realize, "Oh yeah, I can't do all of this by myself...I had some help."
With that realization, you become humble and recognize the Lord's
hand in your life. That really, without him, you'd have nothing.
Finally, you begin seeing others as He sees them. You begin
looking outside of your circumstances and become aware of
others' trials. You begin to find happiness in the now.
And there you have it, the cycle starts all over again.
It's funny because on a small scale, we see this in our lives all the time.
I have had numerous experiences where the Lord has humbled me and reminded me of who is in charge. One such instance occurred with my students last year. We had a practice end of the year test given and my students blew the reading test out of the water! I was so ecstatic! I started things like, "I knew I could do it! People have been doubting me, and look at that!" Notice, I was using the words "I."
The next day they took the math test, I was not even worried about their scores because I knew I had taught them even better in math than in reading. I was strutting around, knowing they were going to dominate. The next morning when I received the scores, my heart sunk. Only 5 of my students had passed. Suddenly, I was pleading with the Lord, "Heavenly Father, I don't understand. I worked my tail off in teaching them math skills. I have done everything I could possible do and still only 5 students pass." For a whole day, I mulled over the data and where I had gone wrong.
After I had cleared my mind, I again sat down with the data to take a closer look and see what I could do to fix these scores in time for the end of the year test. To my surprise, as I compared the data from the previous test, I realized that the results were identical. Upon further analysis, I realized that the results were in fact identical-the results were both from the first test that they took. With excitement, I re-pulled up the math scores and clicked on the correct test this time. My heart pounded as I realized that 11 of my students had actually passed. With a glad heart, I poured out love and gratitude to my Father in Heaven for HIS help in making this possible. It took Him scaring me for me to realize who really helped my students pass. I am so grateful that the Lord didn't actually have to humble me completely by having only 5 of my students pass. I am grateful that I was humbled quickly just by the error.
Jeff and I have often discussed how we feel blessed that we haven't had any serious trials in our lives/marriage. We often wonder if they are yet to come. However, at the same time, we hope and pray that many trials will be avoided if we can just stay humble and appreciative of the Lord's hand instead of getting caught up in the pride cycle.
Jeff's dental school experience has been a humbling experience for both of us, alike. Without going into too much detail, we both feel like the Lord is opening doors for Jeff that he could not do otherwise. We have concluded that the reason for this is so that we will stay humble when we have a more set lifestyle. After Jeff walks across that floor on graduation day, we will both fall to our knees in gratitude for the Lord's hand to get him there. Because of this, when He asks us to give of our financial means or time, I hope we remember what got us to that point in our lives. May we, then, avoid a few of the steps in the pride cycle.
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