“I can do it!” Four short words totaling eight letters which, when uttered together, bring such joy, power and pride. Successfully accomplishing a task for the first time, especially after some failures, is a critical part of the human growth path. Anyone who has served in the role of parent or teacher knows that we need to keep encouraging people to try again and persevere, because some things aren’t as difficult as they seem. Once people taste success for the first time, they will gain the confidence they need to succeed a second, third, or fourth time. When someone finally proclaims “I can do it”, their sense of pride and self-worth increases, and they are ready to take on the world.
This belief in our own abilities, and the pride that it creates, is so important as we go about our daily lives. In some people, it becomes so ingrained that their confidence never waivers, and they do the tasks set before them with speed and strength. For others, they need to continually repeat to themselves this simple, four-word mantra, reminding themselves with every breath that they can indeed do it. They too believe, but it is just that sometimes they need help with their unbelief.
Although this confidence in ourselves is critical to our enjoyment and productivity in life, it does come with some potential risks. Perhaps the most dangerous of these risks is our pride. You see, not only do we personally enjoy being capable individuals, we enjoy being known to other people as someone who can take care of themselves. After spending so much of our lives learning how to succeed, we don’t want other people to see us fail. We get embarrassed merely at the thought of someone seeing us fall down, or fail at something that we think we should be able to accomplish. Our pride can prevent us from being willing to accept that there are times when we need help.
This becomes dangerous because there are times when it is a very fine line between “I can do it” and “I can’t do it”, and by the time that you cross that line, it is too late to ask for help. Once you have thrown your back out trying to lift something that was too heavy to lift yourself, it is too late to undo the harm that you have done to yourself. Once you begin falling from a stool because you reached too far to try to grab something, it is too late to avoid the crash landing and the damage that will ensue. And sometimes, when the emotional burden gets to be too overwhelming, you find yourself so crushed that you refuse to believe that life is worth living any longer. In all of these instances, the outcome is avoidable if only we could drop our pride and admit “I can’t do it”. In a loving community, help is always just a phone call away – but we have to be willing to allow someone else to see that we need assistance.
My friends, the proverb “Pride goes before destruction” is just as true today as it was when it was written nearly 3,000 years ago. Don’t let your pride blind you from seeing that you might need some help. It might just save you from a dangerous and painful situation.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron