Proud People Don't Love Well
My pastor said this at church
Proud people don't love well
It hit me pretty profoundly because I can relate to many times I was too proud to love others, hell I couldn't love myself because of my pride.
I was too proud to let go of my toxic marriage. Which stopped me from being able to love the most important people in my life. My best friend, my son, my accountability, my family.
Now don't get me wrong. I could love. But I couldn't love them or myself the healthy way they needed, the way they deserved to be loved. Because my pride kept me in a mental and emotional prison.
Pride... it's such a foul monster that feels like normal, it feels like happiness, it feels like... "I'm not doing anything wrong.". It feels like "I am happy!". When in fact you are dying.
The hard part about pride is that it disguises itself as normal thoughts and feelings. So it's near impossible to self evaluate yourself without stopping and having a really honest conversation with yourself.
If I had taken the time to stop myself and ask myself the honest question of "Am I just being a prideful mess?" I might have saved myself a lot of mistakes. But the problem is you have to be willing to entertain the thought "I was wrong" in order to legit ask yourself the question about being prideful. Because if you don't have the ability to say "This was a mistake." then you can never detect pride.
So how do you do it? How do you detect it and get free?
First ask yourself this:
Am I willing to admit I might be wrong?
If you can answer yes to that question then try this second question:
Would I be ok admitting I have been wrong about this?
If you can answer yes to that question as well, then try this third question:
Am I ruining my life, my loved ones lives, by holding onto this opinion?
If you can both admit to being prideful, and also walk away from your pride then you are one of the strongest people on the planet.
Proud people don't love well
I believe in you.
Do it.
Be free to love.
and
be loved well.