Pride & Prejudice

So I wont be quoting any of Jane Austen's novel today, although she is my ALL time favorite novelist and I LOVE the movie Pride & Prejudice. I had a revelation yesterday.  I was convicted to think on this a moment, "What we feel as parents may honestly originate as pride, but how do we keep it from spiraling into prejudice?" We all think our kids are the smartest, the most physcially advanced, talented, etc. and to some degree it is vitally important to provide that source of encouragement for them. However, I've come to the conclusion that we must silmutaneously keep that sense of pride in check so that we don't develop a prejudice (i.e. preconceived judgment or opinion ) and a burden of pressure on our kids. 

We got a wonderful phone call yesterday afternoon!  Turns out Colby actually won 1st Place in his age group for the coloring contest at the John Deere days event we went to a couple of weeks ago!!!  For over a week he has been praying for the outcome in his favor, but a couple of days ago he confessed that, "Well, I guess I didn't win because they haven't called yet."  He moped for a bit, but I was pleasantly surprised at how his attitude bounced right back when he said, "Well, I guess I'll just have to try harder next year!  Maybe I'll add in 2 cows!" LOL!  I knew he had tried his hardest and I must say I was "prejudice"  that his indeed was the best, yet it was not mine to judge, nor did I have the priviledge of seeing the other entrants.   

Here's my prize winning artist!!!  He can't wait to drive to the dealership this weekend with Jarred to pick up his loot!

As a matter of fact, I had another run-in with "pride" yesterday.  The Lord must be working on me with this.  Anyway, early Monday morning a house in our neighborhood was destroyed by a fire that started in the garage.  It was obvious they lost mostly everything.  All day long visions of that poor family (whom I'd never seen) played through my head.  Were they elderly, young??? Did they have kids???  I prayed for them throughout the day.  I felt the need to help in some way, but I am ashamed to admit I was scared to approach a stanger.  Would they think I was being offensive?  Could I even help them?  Would my efforts take me farther than I intended???  So many unknowns!!!  I'm a planner, a self-proclaimed "type A" person, so this was a big challenge for me.  I look back now and think I was just too proud to take a risk.  The house is on the other side of my neighborhood, but on my way home from picking the kids up from school I found myself driving over there.  If nothing else, I convinced myself I would use this as a teachable moment for the kids to be grateful for what they had and to bring home the point that "stuff" doesn't matter.  (We're in the process of trying to "declutter".)  The owners appeared to be outside, and the next thing I knew I was parking the car and getting out!!   Turns out they are a young couple with 4 daughters ages, 3 mo, 3 yrs, 6 yrs, and 14 yrs.  The dad had been in Flordia and the mom said only one fire alarm went off.  She barely heard it, but the dog woke her up!  She got all the kids out of the house, and called 911.  Because we live outside the city limits, we have a volunteer fire department that services this area.  Due to the logistics, I guess it takes longer to get everyone where they need to be and for over 30 minutes she helplessly watched her house, cars & belongings go up in flames.  How devastating!!! 

My heart just breaks for them.  Thankfully we were able to offer them a few neccesaties (a car seat, stroller, high chair, diaper bag, etc) to get them started.  When I delivered the items I had the girls with me and Madeline's eyes lit up when she realized there was a little girl her age that she recognized from school in this family!  It was an answer to her prayer!!!  Since Christmas Eve she has prayed for a little girl in our neighborhood that she could play with.   Their 3 yr. old and Chloe hit it off too, and in just the few short minutes we were there!  Kids are so amazing!  So bold in their actions and feelings.  They just instantly started playing, and we're looking forward to having them over for dinner soon, and to many playdates in the near future!  

I was so grateful I was able to overcome my pride in that moment and be a blessing to this sweet family.  However, the biggest surprise was the blessing I felt to show God's love to someone in need.  It was the most intoxicating, wonderful, feeling that I can barely find words to describe.  However, I KNOW I want to feel it again & again!  This is what we were created for!  I'm looking forward to more opportunities in my life when I can lay down my pride, open my eyes to look past prejudice, and be a blessing to others in need!