A young, promising man was warned not to travel in his new car but he wanted to. His wife appealed to him, even lost her temper in the process of trying to convince her husband not to take the trip. All her pleas and protests fell on deaf ears. The husband travelled…to his death. When his corpse was brought out of the car, a finger was hanging between his lips as though he regretted leaving home despite his wife’s effort. The point of this story is that husbands are the heads of the home and there is a tendency for these men to act arrogantly towards their wives, refusing to listen to what they have to say, and even when they manage to listen, they do not respect their views even when it is a superior argument. Even when they have offended their wives, men tend to find it difficult to apologize. Such men have allowed pride to take them on a ride. Sadly, when pride takes a person on a ride, the destination is destruction. Pride is manifested not only at homes, but also in the outside world.

Pride is dangerous because it causes a kind of blindness and deafness. The person only sees things his way, becomes opinionated and ignores corrections or warnings. This blindness causes him to see how overly important he is, especially when this person is gifted or endowed with special abilities. This is why we have to realize that everything we have acquired, everything we have become or achieved is from God. There was a time I used to think of my body parts to see which really belongs to me and I realized my entire being, the breath of life which is the most important of all is not mine. That was enough to let me see that I owe my life to God.

A sense of gratitude can cure the nonsense of pride. When you and I learn to recognize and appreciate God for His manifold blessings. Look back to how you were conceived, given birth to and you have survived over the decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds. If you are thoughtful enough, you will be grateful. And if you are grateful enough, you will be humble.

Events in history and even in contemporary times have shown that pride takes men on a deathly ride. Humility by way of gratitude can save us. Naturally, we all have a tendency to want to flaunt our achievements or brag about whom we are but learning to be humble is a wise. Whoever you have become, whatever you have acquired or achieved, you are not going to allow pride take you on a ride. I believe in your greatness!