WATCHWORD:
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts, there is no room for God. Psalm 10:4
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 1 Corinthians 13:4
Meditation:
High Dive
The father stood on the high dive platform at the crowded public swimming pool. His young son sat on the edge of the pool, staring admiringly at his father. His eyes had widened as daddy climbed to the top of the high dive, waved to his son, then launched himself into what he hoped would be a wonderful dive to impress his son. Somewhere between the platform and the water all went wrong, and he hit with a mighty bellyflop that echoed across the pool. The crowd laughed and whistled at the show. The young boy clapped and squealed at what he considered to be a wonderful daredevil performance by his father.
His father, overwhelmed with humiliation and struggling to regain his breath, made his way to the pool edge where his son sat. If you were watching you could almost imagine the young boy saying, “do it again daddy!” The daredevil would not be doing it again.
Ah, pride, tis’ a wonderful thing, it sneaks into so much of what we do. Often, we set out to do something with all good intentions but somewhere in the mix, deep in our being, the issue of impressing others rears its ugly head.
What is the saying? “Pride goes before the fall” or the dive. One morning I was inspired to write two meditations for WATCHWORD. Oh, they were wonderful, deathless prose to impress even the most scholarly theologian, I thought.
The next morning, I launched myself off the high dive! Did a perfect half-gainer into a…bellyflop! What happened to those devotionals? Where are those wonderful meditations? They were nowhere to be recovered! What a sad day it was. Except now I must address the obvious topic…my own pride and what is going on with my computer. I mean, what the heck!
George MacDonald, in his book Life Essential, writes that “the man who is proud of anything he thinks he has reached, has not reached it. He is proud only of myself. If he had reached, he would have begun to forget. He who delights in contemplating whereto he has attained, is not merely sliding back, he is already in the dirt of self-satisfaction.” Which, he concludes, is pride, and outside the blessings of God.
This is what I have learned from this experience: For me, personally, I need to get back to writing for the Glory of the Lord. To following those moments of inspiration that seem to flow from morning devotionals and prayer. I had drifted away.
For you, the reader, the same thing applies. Those inspirations that come to us through our prayer-life and our devotional readings should lead us into a deeper and closer walk with our Lord.
Completely apart from technological failure, or failure on my own (heaven help me), there is something about this whole episode and the topic that deserves more attention in the future. For now, I think I will stop and surrender the whole thing to the Lord, before I lose what I have written, again.
I will close with this. I believe inspiration is communication from the Lord. I believe the Lord speaks to each of us in many ways, languages, actions, and, yes, those unexpected things that happen to us on our way; those things we find on our way to discovering something else. The blessings of the Lord, falling all around us, even from a high dive. Pay attention and be grateful. Amen.
Morning Prayers:
Lord, grant me tenacious winsome courage as I go through this day. When I am tempted to give up, help me to keep going. Grant me a cheerful spirit when things don’t go my way. And give me the courage to do whatever needs to be done. In Jesus’ name,
Father, thank you for intervening in my life and allowing me to have a personal relationship with you. Thank you for your love for me today and forever. Thank you for the blessings you’ve given me, my family, my friends and all those in need. Help us use those blessings to bless others. May I live a life of true joy as I see you at work around me today! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
