Pride Comes Before the Fall

     Or, somehow, pride comes after the fall for McKayla Maroney.  She considered herself better than the gold-metal winner in the event.  Since then, her 'unimpressed' face has been shown all over, and photoshopped into countless pictures.  She even taught the president her trademark scowl!  Even though she may not have gotten gold in the event, after her fall she still couldn't even put on a smile for the Awards Ceremony.  However, this is not true of most cases.

    When I was considering what to do, I wrote down somewhere that I considered myself to be 'smart.' Guess what?  When I wrote it down, I actually wrote mart!  Then, when I corrected it, instead of saying that it was right, I said 'now I got it write!'  I told my mom, and now 'Pride comes before the fall' is our motto.  

     Proverbs 16:18 says,

          "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

     This has been even more of a true statement recently: not only did I begin spelling things wrong, but my cousin missed his bus.  "I've never missed the bus once in two years," he stated with pride on a Monday afternoon.  Two days later, he called us on Wednesday morning.  He stated that he had missed our bus, and begged my mom to come pick him up and drive him to school.  Of course, my wonderful mother agreed, but he still received a tardy and the humiliation of knowing that I would probably rub it in for a little while(which I plan on doing).  Because, right after he had made his pride statement, I had replied with, "Pride goes before the fall."  

     Leviticus 26:19 states:

          "I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze."

     Pride is definitely getting to be a big issue: everywhere.   Some things that I don't even think of as pride are definitely prideful!  I love a band, and I obsess over them every day and moment, but I think that I am so much cooler than the billion other fans of the band.  It's really just a huge heart issue.  This advice may sound familiar, but pray and read the Bible!  The Bible has more advice for you than I could ever give, and always seems to have the right thing to say at the right time.
     Some more advice: just stop and listen.  I only see one of my closest friends once a week, so when I do see her, I rush to tell her everything about my week.  Even though I know I shouldn't, I keep the conversation on me 90% of the time.  And though she doesn't seem to mind, that doesn't mean that it's not pride.  You may be doing this too, so just stop and listen.  If suddenly everything gets really quiet and you were the one who had been carrying the conversation the whole time, then feel free to continue.  But if not, then you just need to start listening rather than talking.
Thanks,
     Hannah