Pride.
It has really been on my heart the past week. Not only in my daily life, where my pride seems to stick out like a rotten thorn, but my pride has created a conviction on my heart.
There are many things for me to take pride in. I am a 4.0 student. I am on the Dean's List. I hold leadership positions in multiple clubs. I am a collegiate athlete. These traits I hold give enough reason for my ego to think I am a big shot. I should be proud and pleased with myself.
However, it puts me in a poor situation for dealing with other people. When one of my peers tells me how they are struggling in their class, cannot seem to manage their time, or are having a hard day, I tend to not be sympathetic. I think, "I am so glad my life is not like that." I compare myself to others, which many of us do, but I end up putting myself above others.
The good thing is, I am realizing there is a problem and I am working to change it.
One experience that impacted me was a Super Bowl party this past Sunday. The Super Bowl party was sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and they invited me and other athletes from Peru to attend.
The party was inside Memorial Stadium. That's right, Memorial Stadium. As someone who grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where Husker football is a necessary lifestyle, I was in awe. As we walked into the stadium, I could not get the thought out of my mind that I was inside Memorial Stadium. It was such a cool feeling.
Once we got to the party, I recognized some faces from other FCA events I had attended, but I did not know the majority of the people there. I could feel myself crawling back into my shell.
On my small NAIA college campus, being an athlete was a big deal. Now I was in Memorial Stadium surrounded by Division 1 athletes.
While I was in awe of Memorial Stadium, the athletes were completely indifferent. All Husker athletes have access to Memorial Stadium. I kept saying to my friend the entire time, "I feel so lame right now." I meant this in a joking way, but on a deeper level, it was very true. How can I think so much of myself when I am surrounded by Division 1 athletes?
We began to socialize with the Husker athletes. I met a guy who was a tight end for the Huskers. An actual Husker football player! He has so much talent. Then there was a girl I co-lead a Huddle with at another FCA event. She is a Husker gymnast, which in my opinion is the most athletically based sport of all.
The most important part of the story is this: they were all humble.
Never once did they boast about their talents, skills, or the fact they were a Husker athlete. The football player I mentioned earlier shared the Gospel during halftime with an absolute passion and a clear love for God. My co-Huddle leader treated me and my friend as if we were her sisters, like every brother or sister in Christ should be treated.
These athletes have every right to be prideful about their accomplishments, but instead, choose to humble themselves and turn their praise to God.
The little conversations I had with athletes at that Super Bowl party really made an impact on how I need to live my life. Instead of being so prideful of my accomplishments, I need to humble myself and celebrate the day God has given me.
We live in a world where we take pride in our appearance and how we are seen by other people. That is no way to live. We should be living in encouraging fellowship with one another as we live our lives for something greater than ourselves. I encourage you all to choose to humble yourself in a world full of pride.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ~Philippians 2:3
