Pride Goeth Before a Fall. Part 2

Pride Goeth Before a Fall. Part 2

“Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” Proverbs 1:18.

Birds chirping in the tall oak outside my bedroom window woke me before the radio alarm clock on the nightstand had a chance. I glanced at the clock. Bold green neon numbers flashed 5:30 a.m.

I pushed the button on the radio and listened to the weatherman predict a record high temperature today, reaching the mid-nineties. I wanted to stay snuggled in bed, enjoying the early morning quietness, but there was much to do. I rolled out of bed and tiptoed to the window. I drew back the curtain and took a deep breath. The rising sun casts a golden hue across the morning sky.

As I left the room, I glanced at my new dress hanging on the closet door—white cotton with tiny red polka dots and elbow-length puffy sleeves. I spent countless hours sewing and ripping out seams for the last two weeks to get a perfect fit. Finally, today is Homecoming at the church where I grew up and I would wear the beautiful dress.

I took a quick peek in the bedroom to check on my children, then rushed to the kitchen to start breakfast and prepare the morning bottle for my 8-month-old son.

During the pregnancy, I gained extra pounds, but with grit and determination, I was back to my normal weight and proud of my accomplishment. I smiled as I thought of how my new fitted dress showed off my slim waist. The full circular skirt flowed and fell to mid-calf; the style was perfect for my new white leather spiked heels with a dainty ankle strap. Today, at Homecoming, everyone would notice how much weight I had lost. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I heard the phrase “pride goeth before a fall,” but I quickly pushed the thought aside.

A few hours later, we arrived at my mom’s house. Across the road, the perfectly manicured cemetery was a sea of color, with each gravesite adorned with beautiful sprays of flowers to honor the dead. I paused for a moment and listened. I could hear the beautiful sound of the congregation singing, “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we will sing and shout the victory.” Anyone over age ten knows the song without using the blue hymnal.

We quickly loaded the large wicker basket of food my mom had prepared and drove behind the church to the Fellowship Hall. With the high temperatures predicted today, I was thankful for the air-conditioned room for our noon meal. Before the new church was built in 1964, dinner was underneath the oak trees near the cemetery on makeshift tables made of rough wood planks.

The tables in the Fellowship Hall were laden with the traditional fare of mouth-watering foods. Fried chicken, cornbread dressing, green beans, lima beans cooked with ham, potato salad, congealed salads, and too many cakes and pies to count. It was a challenge to listen to the Homecoming guest speaker with the smell of food wafting up the stairway and hovering in the sanctuary.

We entered the back of the crowded sanctuary as quietly as possible, but when the door creaked, heads turned. The guest speaker stopped reading his introductory Scriptures for a moment. People I had not seen in a while turned and gave a quick hand wave. I waved back. It’s Homecoming, and that’s what you do. And besides, I was proud, wearing my new dress, spiky shoes, and twenty pounds lighter. Too busy waving and not paying attention was my downfall.

As we made our way down the side aisle, I failed to notice the air vent on the floor. When I stepped on it, my spiky heel caught in the grate. I tugged, but my shoe was stuck. I could hear the snickers. My mother rolled her eyes as I shifted my baby into her arms, and then graciously took a seat with my daughter. My husband squatted on the floor to unbuckle my ankle strap. Shoeless on one foot, spiky heel on the other, I hobbled to a seat, humiliated and embarrassed. My husband used his pocket knife to unscrew the air vent. He retrieved my damaged shoe with the leather stripped from the heel. It looked as if he had recovered it from a fight with a pack of dogs.

I strapped on my shoe and enjoyed the remainder of the sermon, giggling now and then at my mishap. So did others. I didn’t think about the food downstairs or the weight I had lost. I didn’t even consider my mangled shoe.

Did I hear the preacher say, “Pride goeth before a fall,” or was that just an echo from the past and a gentle reminder for me that day?

Throughout the Homecoming meal and while strolling with family through the cemetery, recalling names and memories of our loved ones, I thought about how wonderful it is to be in a place where you are known and loved.

Homecoming is more than a meal, decorating a grave, or a good old-fashioned gospel singing. It’s more than getting your shoe caught in the air vent. It is celebrating life, death, and everything in between with the people and the house that built you.

A place where you can make mistakes and people will help you get back on your feet.

If you get caught in a vent or a “life trap,” they will pull you out and point you in the right direction.

These are the people who will laugh and rejoice with you, and in sad times, they will be the shoulder you cry on.

It’s going home no matter how long it’s been or how far you have traveled.

Feeling prideful on that Homecoming Day was not a bad thing; I had worked hard and accomplished a goal. But I did need a slight attitude adjustment, and I got it! I also learned our accomplishments could also blind us to what is ahead. Being prideful can keep you stuck in the moment and be a barrier that will prevent you from moving forward.

My prayer is that God will help me not get stuck in the moments of life, good or bad, but to keep moving forward as He leads.

That’s what built me—the people, the years of growing up in a place where love was given. And getting stuck in the floor vent in the middle of the sermon on Homecoming Day taught me to watch and pay attention to where I am going!

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy :5-7

***********

I had the honor of my story, Pride Goeth Before a Fall, first printed in The House That Built Me by SCWC. Available from Amazon.