When does pride in yourself become egotistical?
I am raising my girls to have pride in themselves which will give them the courage and self-confidence to try new things without the fear of failing. With all my heart, I focus on building them up and not tearing them down. Even if what they do, or wear, is not as I would like it, I praise them as much as I give praise to our Lord Jesus Christ.
As I raise them to be proud, I also teach them not to be boastful or too focused on feeling like they are the best. Those are the traps that pride can suck us into. When we are boastful, we are bragging to others about how great we are as a means to make them feel lesser than us. We want them to admire us for how magnificent we are. This is actually a sign of great insecurity in yourself because you are asking for the praise of others in order to feel good about yourself. Think of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. He went mad trying to get Belle to marry him. His spirit was dead for he had no internal peace with how great he was in God’s eyes.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, you can be so trapped in feeling like you are better than everyone else that your only goal in life is to prove that you are the best. Recipe for disaster. There would be no satisfaction once you win first place, make a million dollars, become CEO of a major corporation, or have the best of everything. This can lead to perfectionism which gets you nowhere good. This pitfall keeps plastic surgeons, age-defying products, the latest and greatest products, and athletic competitions in business. The saddest part is that it also robs you of the joy of playing a sport because you love to play, performing because you love to sing or dance or play your instrument, or becoming CEO because you love guiding people to work together as a team to achieve an end product. When pride has infected your life, peace and joy have left.
Psalm 25:9 NIV says “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way”. Psalm 138:6 NLT even says “Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud”. The more proud you are, the less you hear God’s teaching.
So what does it look like to be humble? Should you never talk about yourself positively? Should you feel like everyone is better than you? Are we supposed to see all our faults and constantly work to improve ourselves? Well, that sounds just as torturous as being too proud!
Being humble comes down to who gets the praise for all you have done and all that you are. Give praise to God…..always. He did so well creating absolutely every aspect of you from the way you look to the words you say and the actions that you do. Take pride in God’s work. That means that you are proud of who you are. When someone gives you a compliment or a gift because they love you, say thank you. When you have done something that you are incredibly proud of yourself for, tell others! Spread your joy. Take pride in God’s creation and praise Him for His good works. When God is at the focus of all you do, and you are proud of His works, then you will have the confidence to try new things without the fear of failing. That’s how I want to raise my girls, and that is how I believe God raises His children. The best part, you are one of His children.
James 1:17 NLT Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.
Voyage to HEAL Weekly Task
Stretch: find a doorframe or corner of a wall that extends out. Now, reach one arm out to the side and touch the doorframe or corner. Walk forward getting a wonderful stretch in the chest and the front of your shoulder. To increase this stretch, look away from the arm you are stretching.
Exercise: It’s snowing outside at present, so I can’t help but want to make snow angels. You can do this standing or lying down. If you have a stretchy band, you could step on one end and pull up on the other end. You could even go outside, fall back in the snow and decorate the lawn with angels! However, you make your snow angels make sure your pelvic floor and core are turned on. Aim for 6-12 angels.
Habitual Change: Do a breathing check. Are you using your diaphragm muscle when you breathe? If the stress level is rising and your shoulders are following suit by rising up, take 12 minutes to do this breathing meditation to get yourself back on track.
Perspective enlightenment: Lord, let me be your humble servant proud, but not boastful. May all I do be for your glory fulfilling your desires for me.
Journaling option: Write out all you are proud of yourself for and then praise the Lord.
This week’s blog post coincides with week 10: Thank you. You can purchase this week in the store on the webpage. You can also purchase the Inner Peace Meditation CD or start your online Voyage to HEAL. Click here to visit the online store to find all of these items. Most importantly, start being kind to yourself always. As God gives you grace, so should you give it to yourself. Stop fighting yourself. Instead, love yourself.
Godspeed on your Voyage to HEAL
Love,
Jocelyn
