Pride is a major concern, a major issue in trying to live a stable life. It unnerves me. The pitfalls of pride can be seen everywhere and they touch everybody at some point in their professional and personal lives. This is nothing new. As one of the seven deadly sins, pride and its consequences have plagued humankind since the beginning of time and consumed many unsuspecting professionals.

In order to avoid the trap that leads to implosion it’s important to understand and practice pride’s antithesis: humility.

Christians and non-Christians alike can agree that Christ demonstrated humility over and over again. My favorite example was His washing the feet of the apostles. They were telling Him not to do that, not to lower Himself to washing the feet of His followers. Christ, the master of one-liners (obviously), said unless you do this, you couldn’t be a part of His Kingdom.

We can easily dupe ourselves into thinking we are above reproachThis one-liner caused me to pause and reflect. I love one-liners! They are concise, to the point, and basically sum up volumes in just a handful of words. If God could literally and figuratively come so low as to wash peoples feet, which in those days were pretty filthy, then who am I? What am I? What do I stand for? And heaven forbid I should ever think of myself as better than someone else for whatever reason.

I also gave pause to a one-liner thrown at me during a time of complete frustration, when I least expected it. I was planning a huge conference in Philadelphia in 1995. Without going into detail, understand that I was beside myself, every possible obstacle that could be placed before me was.

Sr. Gracia Kelly who at 18-years-old left America to join the Divine Mercy Order in Krakow, Poland because she wanted to be part of an old-time traditional order, was back in the USA evangelizing when I met her. She had been informed about he conference I was putting together and upon our introduction, Sr. Gracia asked how things were going. She probably didn’t realize that I was at my tipping point. Her simple inquiry was like my cue to unload, which I did.

Halfway through my rant, she stopped me and told me to kneel with her in front of the painted portrait of the Risen Christ Divine Mercy image. I was reluctant. I was in battle mode but I followed her anyway.

As we knelt, I looked at her and said, “So what’s supposed to happen now?”

She replied, “Calm down.”

After three minutes of silence, I was about ready to explode. She must have sensed this because that’s when she unleashed a one-liner that rocked me.

Serious yet calm, Sr. Gracia said, “Just think what it’s doing to Him.”

Those seven words stung like a gust of cold wet wind against my bare face. All the frustration I was harboring over this conference was quickly put into perspective at the notion that Christ was right there with me feeling the same frustration. I realized that in the scheme of things my cross—this conference—wasn’t really too weighty.

Living life abundantly is a mindset that has to be fed. It’s a process of increased awareness, ebb and flow, a constant internal battle visible through our attitude. What you think you absolutely knew fifteen years ago and believed may not necessarily hold true today. I think this happens as we reach the age of wisdom, whether that age for you is 40, 50, or 60, you become wiser.

Pride unnerves me because it can destroy that growth process. We can easily dupe ourselves into thinking we are above reproach. When that happens, we’re done. Worse yet, we may not even realize it. This is the trap of pride.

PS: If you need a tangible example look at the politicians!!!!!