One fall day, when I was living in Michigan, I was having a particularly rough day that was drenched with a sour and prideful attitude. Everything I did, no matter how hard I tried, went absolutely wrong. And whatever problems I was having that day, I didn’t care to deal with them; instead I chose to ignore them. I had it settled in my mind that the problem wasn’t me—it had to be everyone and everything else.

As this bad day carried on, I found myself getting more and more frustrated, and in an attempt to alleviate myself from my own self-centered attitude, I decided to go for a run. So, I tied my running shoes extra tight and set out on my own way.

I walked down our short drive way and before I could even turn on to the sidewalk, I was already in a full sprint. And in no less than three boastful strides, I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and fell flat on my face.

I looked at my scraped hands and the distance of about twenty feet that I had traveled from my house and began to laugh as all of my arrogant thoughts had been brought to a screeching halt. I got the relief that I was searching for, but not in the way that I expected. I picked myself off of the ground and apologized to God for my attitude and thanked Him for the lesson.

That day, I saw and felt how painful and foolish a selfish heart and a prideful attitude can be. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

When self-centered pride tries to run your life, set the running shoes of ignorance aside and walk humbly with the Lord, Your God.