I Was Humbled and I Did Not Like It

Read Time / 2 Minutes

Theme / Wise Living

I was humbled and I did not like it.  Let me tell you my story.  You may laugh, but here it is.

I enjoy playing pickleball.  My wife and I play with a group of twelve players with similar capabilities on Monday mornings, where we mix up the teams each game for variety and experience.  Normally, we don’t have a men’s doubles team compete against a women’s doubles team, choosing to realign the teams to play mixed doubles to make it fairer.  But on a recent Monday morning, we didn’t realign and just as “pride goeth before the fall” (Proverbs 16:8) so my pride came crashing down.  My male partner and I lost to two women, albeit close, but it was still a loss.   The women were strong players, but it was the first time in my life in tennis or pickleball that I have lost to two women when I had a good male partner.  You may laugh here.  I know it is just a game, but I still lost to two women. 

The first part of Proverbs 11:2 bluntly states, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace.”   Whether disgrace is too strong of a word for my situation, it was still a low point for me in pickleball.  Where do I go from here?   Fortunately, the second part of the verse provides hope: “but with humility comes wisdom.”

Now that I’ve been humbled, I need to learn from it.  Wisdom is more than just experience; it is learning from that experience.  I realize that good pickleball players, whether male or female, can beat me, and I should not be surprised when it happens.  I must learn to control my attitude and not let it control me.  Letting my attitude dictate my life is not wise.

Lord, help me be wise in the future.  Help me to have the right attitude.

Doug Hanson, MBA

Wealth Advisor

(208) 697-3699

doug@christianwm.com