Pride Goes Before The Fall

Pride Goes before the Fall

Pride goes before destruction,and haughtiness before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18

As the kids played in the backyard one hot Texas afternoon, I treated them to one of their summer favorites—Popsicles. I had just one rule: Eat them outside. After all, it is physically impossible for preschoolers to devour brightly colored frozen treats without decorating themselves, the table, the floor, and everything else within sight.

“Here you go!” I said, handing them the treats. “Just be sure to keep these outside.”

“But, Mom!” my four-year-old daughter, J. J., protested, “I’ll be good this time! I promise I won’t drip!”

“I know you’ll try, honey,” I assured her. “And I appreciate the thought. But go ahead and eat it outside. Then, if you want to come inside later, that’s fine.”

With a determined flounce, J. J. sat on the patio chair and began to eat her Popsicle, painstakingly slurping the syrup before it dripped on her clothes or the porch. When she got down to the last clump of ice, which was barely clinging to the bottom of the stick, she knocked on the back door, eager to show me her accomplishment through the French-pane windows.

“Look, Mom!” she squealed, showing me her red-tinted stick, dripping syrup dangerously close to her T-shirt. “I didn’t spill anything!”

Chuckling at her determination, I said, “That’s great, honey. But you’re not quite finished yet, so be careful. And remember, pride comes before the fall.”

J. J. screwed up her face in thought. And then as understanding struck, she said brightly, “Oh! So pride comes in the summer?”

Well, yes, I suppose it does. And if we are not careful, pride can come in the fall, winter, and springtime, too.

—Jennifer Stair

Father, please keep us humble, even when we do something truly amazing, like eating a Popsicle without spilling a drop. Amen.