We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:19

Fault Line

            It was another blistering August day in Indiana. A dear, long-time friend and I were sitting in an air-conditioned restaurant lunching on cole slaw and cold sandwiches and sipping iced tea, trying to cool off. It was almost working. As has been our habit for many years, we were talking about our concerns for our families and ourselves, and asking the other to pray because we each know the other really will. Though it's fun when we get together, it's not just "girl talk." It's serious business, too. This friend and I have been sharing prayer concerns for many years, more years, in fact, than the Israelites wandered the wilderness, so when she said, "I hope you don't get proud," I listened.

            Actually, to be honest, at first I laughed a little because this was me we were talking about and both of us know that I mess up more than enough to keep me humble. But then, I realized that maybe I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss her concern. First I laughed, then I listened.

            According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word "pride" has both positive and negative connotations, thus using the word can get tricky. The positive, "a feeling that you respect yourself and deserve to be respected by other people" is followed by the negative, "a feeling that you are more important or better than other people." Like an earthquake fault line hidden underground, there is both a fine line and a great gulf between these two definitions.

            Why would my friend worry that I might get proud? After many years of staying home to raise a large family, I went back to college and earned an undergrad degree. At the urging of one poetry professor in particular, I applied to grad school, was accepted (still a miracle to me!) and earned a master's degree in creative writing. What? Two degrees. Me? And now, through still more incredible circumstances, I'm teaching English at my undergrad alma mater. How in the world. . .? A God thing, for sure, all of it!

            While it's not surprising that the same God who "merely spoke and the heavens were created," who "breathed the word and all the stars were born" (Psalm 33: 6), the One who "spoke and the world began" (Psalm 33: 9a), could make all this possible, it is surprising to me that I'm involved in this story. I grew up feeling less than intelligent in a family of intelligent, gifted people. Good grades were one measure of worth in my birth family. Musical ability was another. At the time, I didn't excel in either. Whether it's true or not, I always felt like a bit of a disappointment to my parents.

            So, back to my friend's concern that I not become proud. I understand her concern that if I let my current circumstances "go to my head," as the saying goes, and started thinking of these blessings as things I've done only on my own, or am doing only on my own, then pride in the negative sense is a very real danger. That would be a lot worse fate than feeling like a disappointment. (Please understand that I'm not discounting all the hard work earning two degrees requires. I'm just trying to look at the bigger picture.)

            The first century Corinthians fell into that fault, and the Apostle Paul corrected them.

But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes (I Corinthians 8: 1b - 3).

Later in the same letter, Paul writes,

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away (I Corinthians 13: 8).

Paul's claims were based on Jesus' teaching that love is the greatest of all.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22: 37-40).

Yes. Love is the measure--love for God and for people. Only love never fails, never disappoints. Nothing is greater than love. Not even faith.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (I Corinthians 13: 2).

            Now don't get me wrong; I want a successful year of teaching, and my friend wants that for me, too. She wants me to have self-respect and the respect of others. What she doesn't want is for me to fall into the fault of thinking of myself more highly than I ought. I appreciate her concern, and her direct, honest warning. Do you, too, have a friend who will say the hard things to you? I hope so!

            So, here's the question: On which tectonic plate of the word "pride" do I stand? Lord, please help me do what it takes to have a successful teaching year, but above all, help me not to fail in love.

Daye Phillippo

October 2016