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Recently something happened (again) at home which annoyed me a lot. It wasn’t an enormously big thing, but it was an issue with the potential to cause real problems. I had spoken about it several times without apparently making any difference. This time my patience wore thin and I could feel myself getting very angry.

For once I did the right thing and took myself away from the situation. I went into a room, shut the door and sat down to have a talk with God about how I felt.

After a while I decided to read my Bible, and came to today’s verse: Patience is better than pride.

I had obviously read this at some time in the past, as I’d made a note in the margin “patience is the opposite of pride”.

Hmm, that set me thinking. What do patience and pride have to do with each other? Then, in my still rather angry head, the penny dropped. Of course, when I am impatient and angry, I am actually being driven by pride.

Pride says, “what I want is more important than what you want. What I think is more important than what you think, because I am more important than you!”

Oh dear! That’s not good. In that moment my pride bubble burst and I saw just how foolish I was being. Sorry Lord!

God is so patient and gentle. He listens and He gently shows us the right way. I would encourage you to let Him help you too, whenever some emotion is getting the better of you. It might be anger, or fear, or a desperate urge to seek comfort in an ungodly way. We all experience times when strong emotions seem to be driving us. Let’s take time out to share those feelings with God and give Him time and space to help us. After all, it’s often only pride that stops us from asking for His help.