The Steep Decline

If you’ve ever been skiing or snowboarding, you know there are many different trails that make up the slopes at a ski resort.  These trails are made up of different levels marking each unique difficulty.  Green squares are easy, blue squares are medium, and black diamonds are hard.  If you’re brave, some resorts have double black diamonds for the true experts.

When out on the slopes, there are signs letting you know the difficulty before you choose to head down the mountain.  You can choose to take it easy or change it up.  Then catch a ride on the lift back to the top, and do it again, and again, and again until you are ready to call it a day.

On a recent trip to one of our all-time favorite resorts, Ben and I picked our favorite trails to ride over and over.  I thought I knew which way we were going until I rounded the corner and saw the steep decline.  Immediately, I panicked.  This was a level up from what I was comfortable with.

What have I done?

What do I do?

I knew I couldn’t take my skis off and walk back to another slope, because well, my pride was in the way.  Ben was already more than halfway down yelling back to me, “You can do it!”

I imagine I’m not the only one who has struggled with pride. As humans, we have an innate desire to be loved. To be accepted.  To be chosen for the dream team, or land the best job.

We care about what others think about us.  Or at least most of us do.  We try to better ourselves and if we aren’t careful, we can fall into the pride trap.  It can steal our joy, it can shatter commitments, and if we’re not careful it can leave us injured in more ways than one.

While I managed to make it down the steep slope uninjured, I didn’t come out without learning an important lesson.  A lesson in humility.  That it’s okay to admit I’m not as good at something as I thought.

This lesson isn’t just for the ski slopes, it’s for all of life.  I’m learning that part of growth and maturity starts with honesty.  Honesty about our strengths, but also our weaknesses.  

Much like I needed Ben to encourage me down the steep slope, we all need encouragement when life gets tough.  We are all going to have days in which life gets the best of us and pride rears its ugly head.  Don’t beat yourself up.

Here’s to a new day full of new opportunities.  Here’s to growth during tough times and humility to admit when we’ve been a little off.  I tried to cover up my pride on the slope that day.  A choice that could have ended in a much different way, but I came out with a lesson to be always learning and always humble.

Proverbs 11:2 - The Passion Translation

2 When you act with presumption, convinced that you’re right, don’t be surprised if you fall flat on your face! But humility leads to wisdom.