Humility vs. Pride

As defined in Webster's Dictionary:
Humble:
Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.
Showing deferential or submissive respect: a humble apology.
Low in rank, quality, or station; unpretentious or lowly: a humble cottage.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
hum·bled , hum·bling , hum·bles
To curtail or destroy the pride of; humiliate.
To cause to be meek or modest in spirit.
To give a lower condition or station to; abase. See Synonyms at degrade

Pride:
NOUN:

A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association: parental pride.
Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.

A cause or source of pleasure or satisfaction; the best of a group or class: These soldiers were their country's pride.
The most successful or thriving condition; prime: the pride of youth.
An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit.
A flamboyant or impressive group: a pride of acrobats.

TRANSITIVE VERB:
prid·ed , prid·ing , prides
To indulge (oneself) in a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction: I pride myself on this beautiful garden.

The last definition - I can't help but wonder...how could we possibly pride ourselves in anything? You pride yourself on this beautiful garden, but did you really grow it? I pride myself in the work I do, but who gave me the opportunity and the skills to perform that job? We pride ourselves in our clothes, but who clothes us? We pride ourselves in our children, but who gave them to us and who created them?! Pride seems to me to be nothing more than the claiming ownership of something that was never ours to begin with. Such dangerous ground.

Lack of humility in our lives will always lead us down a path of sorrow. It hinders confession, spurs dishonesty and fear...

"It was through pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." C.S. Lewis

Wow...anti-God state of mind. God knows what it means to be humbled. He humbled Himsef when the almighty Creator of our entire world and being brought Himself to dwell with us and among us. When he brought Himself to be persecuted and humiliated (see the definition of humble) by us, those that He created. Imagine creating an ant farm (keep in mind that we don't even have the ability to create the actual ants as God did) and then deciding that you needed to go and be with them b/c they were so unable to do it themselves - to live among them, teach them - to go from this mind and this body...to being an ant? Who would actually do that? Well friends, God did...and He only desires that we humble ourselves in return. That in every action we would recognize our place in the grand scheme of things - "A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God; of his dependency on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom" -Johnathan Edwards.

In most cases, throughout the bible and in my own experience, humility starts with recognition and confession. I've wondered lately why confession is so important to the humbled spirit and I realized that confession creates vulnerability and intimacy. Think a/b the last friend that confessed something to you...you were probably so touched by their willingness to share that you felt the ability to share with them...intimacy. We confess to God and it creates intimacy. We are trusting Him, sharing with Him, making ourselves vulnerable before Him. There is nothing that God desires more than for us to trust him with our exposed and vulnerable hearts.

So in all of this, what is the importance of a humble heart? without humility it is impossible to recognize our true need for God. It is impossible to have pride in our own capabilities and trust in the Lords. It is only 'in' the Lord that we could ever boast...I once read somewhere that if you do not think you have a problem with pride, you are probably the most prideful of all. Humility is something that we can always strive for more of. More humility, more intimacy, more of God. My prayer is that I am humbled daily, reminded daily of who I am and who I would be w/o Christ to cover me.