"Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud."  {Proverbs 16:18-19}

I was embarrassed, and a little humiliated last night, which was all my own doing. It was Election Day, and I went to vote with my husband and two of my children. Not a big deal, one would think, except it became one for me. I am not the neatest person around, and I tend to do things quickly even though I might spill, or drop something. I had a relaxed attitude when given my ballot to fill out, and not really giving much thought to it.

As I complete the ballot, I see that I made a mistake. I cross out the mistake, and place the ballot into the voting machine. The machine rejects it. I try again. No good. I am told that I need to get a new ballot, and start over. The 5 people sitting at the table where I had to return my invalid ballot were not amused. They became my judge and jury. They explain the process all over again, and then give me a new ballot.

This time I feel that I will get it right, but I'm still not so careful. I proceed to fill in the little ovals with the black felt pen, Oops, I accidently made a little pen mark in the wrong oval. Oh no, I said to myself. Maybe it will be alright. I place the ballot into the machine. No good again. At this point I am mad, not at myself, but at the silly process. Why can't we have the machines with the little levers that we had for years, I am saying in my head. What about the days when we used pencils and you could erase! I dread having to go back to the judges and explaining again, what went wrong. I get a lecture about how to do this simple task, and this time I am told I won't have another try if I fail to make this right.

One of the ladies in the judgement seat didn't hear that the men told me this was my last attempt. She started to tell me again and I said, yes, this definitely is my last time, because I'm not doing it again, even if you tell me I can! I was mad, and feeling a bit stupid at this point. I got it right, and we were on my way, but I was not happy about my attitude. "Oh Lord, I really got mad about nothing." I said. My attitude was foolish, and a bit haughty for sure. I didn't regard this process as an important thing, and I took it lightly. To make matters worse, one of the men in the judgement seat recognized my husband from his television commercial, and was fawning all over him. Sigh,.

All I could say to the Lord was, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me." When I thought I was something more than I was, I fell, flat on my face. Oh yes, and I am thankful for it. I don't want a prideful heart. I need to be reminded that anything I am is because he paid the price for me. What others think or understand is not important. Only what's done for Christ will last for eternity. Thank you Lord.

BTY- One of the "judges", said that I wasn't the only one who messed up a ballot. That does help.