Romans 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. This is how I feel some days. Okay, a lot of days. I start out thinking I know what I’m doing, and end up feeling like a complete fool because I’m completely lost. Isn’t this at the crux of a lot of our problems? Pride. That’s pretty much what it boils down to. We laugh in movies when the character thinks he or she knows so much and we know they’re making total fools of themselves (dramatic irony, right?). And yet, in real life we do the same things… except it’s me in the silly seat. Right now I’m struggling with a situation where I need to be wise in how I handle things, and I really don’t want to behave foolishly. Part of me wants to lash out in anger and hurt and frustration. And part of me knows that this isn’t the right thing to do. There’s a lot of claiming to be wise from both sides of the table, but an awful lot of foolishness being acted out. Pride is a difficult thing. It’s sneaky. It’s the root of most of my issues. I see it (usually after the fact *sigh*) subtly infiltrating my life when I least expect it to. There’s pride in my fear. There’s pride in my interactions with my children. There’s pride in my interactions with my husband. There’s pride in my conflicts. The frustrating part is there seems to be an underlying current of pride in everything. So, here’s what I’m thinking. Pride in God and what God has done through me is not necessarily a bad thing. He created me with gifts and skills and wants me to use them. I need to take pride in my work and do a good job. However, pride in my knowledge or my ability to do things on my own isn’t such a good thing because really, without God’s strength and help I tend to make a helpless mess of things. I don’t want to play the fool and think I know better than the other people involved in this situation. God’s given them wisdom, too. But I also realize that none of us are right about everything, and that goes for them as well. Pride says to act like I know more than them and be condescending. And God says, “don’t be a fool about it.” So, help me God not to be a fool, to remember that all Wisdom is Yours. And help me to know how you would handle this situation with grace, mercy, and love.