This seems like a strange title, but let me digress….maybe confess is a more correct term. I am not a mechanical genius; however do know enough to get myself in trouble. This evening I was doing the mundane chore of mowing my lawn. Being a busy individual my time is an important commodity and one I don’t like to waste. As I engaged this simple task of home ownership I came to realize after six or seven pulls on the mower ….it wasn’t going to start. Putting my logical mind to work, I concluded that in order for a mower to function properly it needs oil. Hmmm! Note to self….check the oil. Sure enough the oil was desperately low and consequently I filled it to the top.
Yes I did say to the TOP! Realizing what I had done and not knowing how to undo the process, in my ignorance, I proceeded to fire up the mower to complete my task. What proceeded after was nothing short of spewing oil, and lots of smoke. Did I mention lots of smoke? Clouds of white smoke bellowed from the exhaust on my mower. However, being the women of purpose and determination that I am, I pressed on. As I stood in a cloud of smoke almost invisible, this young person came zooming on her bike down the sidewalk and asked,
“Do you know that your mower is smoking?” My quick wit compelled me to respond, “No… I didn’t notice!” RIGHT! This preteen then continued to share that her dad knew how to fix mowers and inquired as to whether I wanted her to go get him. I declined and continued along my way mowing my grass and polluting the neighborhood. Just so that you ,my blogging friend, don’t think I am a total nit wit the smoke did eventually subside once it totally burned off the exhaust and I completed my project.
This little confession/experience got me thinking about how as individuals we struggle with pride. As people more often than not we come off as independent and self sufficient. Our culture has conditioned us to believe that we shouldn’t show weakness. Consequently, we don’t let people see our deficiency, or know our hurts. Our pride tells us that we don’t need a helping hand, we don’t need someone coming along side picking us up and dusting us off, or even saving us from the peril we have imposed upon ourselves.
This perspective insulates and isolates us from relating to God and one another in ways that really count. As people we have been created for relationship with God and others. The Bible speaks about pride…the book of Proverbs shares, “Pride comes, then comes shame, but wisdom remains with humble people.”(Proverbs 11:2). Pride hardens the mind and refuses to hear the wisdom of anyone. It closes us off from others and from God; it rejects all other wisdom. Do we really want to live this way? Doesn’t wisdom found in humility sound like a much better arrangement?
Humility is confessing that we don’t have it all together…isn’t this the real truth anyway? It is coming before God and each other communicating that we have a need. It is allowing others the opportunity to minister to our deficiency. I am reminded of what a friend once told me, he shared, “Nancy vulnerability isn’t a sign of weakness, it is a demonstration of strength.” My blogging friends let us come out of the closet of our pride and let’s get real with each other and God. May we be willing to entertain the notion that we need each other.
