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Leggo my ego
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___The Bible says pride comes before a fall. And it is so very true.
___The way this plays out in the average male is through our uncanny ability to overestimate our own abilities. Take me as Exhibit A.
___ Last Saturday, I started out
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MARK WINGFIELD
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on a little bicycle ride that, while not religious in nature, once again proved the Scriptures to be true.
___ There’s a hike and bike trail near our house in Northeast Dallas that runs all the way down to White Rock Lake, a beautiful intown lake. It was a wonderful spring-like day on Saturday--moderate temperatures and bright sunshine. So it appeared to be the perfect day for a bike ride.
___ I headed down the trail and soon was amazed at my speed and progress. I thought to myself more than once how strong I was getting, how all that weight training finally was paying off. I looked down at my legs, and the muscles indeed appeared to bulge more than ever before. It seemed I was flying through the air with the greatest of ease.
___ I was doing so well, I reasoned, that I had time to ride the whole 9 miles around the lake and get back home in record time. So I forged on proudly.
___ The whitecaps on the lake should have made me think twice about this plan. But for some reason, it just didn’t compute. I noticed the tremendous waves and thought about how majestic and pretty they were. And just beyond the halfway point--about the time the trail starts heading steeply uphill--I turned a corner and hit the wind.
___ At first, I didn’t want to believe the wind was as strong as it was. To admit this would mean my rapid progress on the first part of the trek wasn’t due to any expanded physical ability on my part. And to admit this also would mean I was headed for deep trouble on the rest of the trip home.
___ Somewhere around the second or third hill--with the wind howling in my face so strongly that my eyes ran like a river--I had to own up to the truth. My ego was deflated more quickly than it had been pumped up.
___ I wouldn’t have revealed this exercise faux pas to Alison, except that my trip took nearly twice as long as expected. The only thing redeeming about a guy falling victim to his own ego is being able to use his downfall to explain his tardiness to his wife.
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___Mark not only overestimates his ability to do something, he often underestimates the time it will take to accomplish it.
___ "Oh, fixing this (toilet, sprinkler, fill-in-the-blank) won’t take more than an hour." Half a day later and I’m on the phone to a plumber or lawn
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ALISON WINGFIELD
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service or whoever the professional is we should have called in the first place.
___ Actually, Mark is quite handy to have around, and I’m glad he can fix (some) things. But I know the day is shot the minute he gets out his handy-dandy "Do-It-Yourself Manual." The boys and I might as well hit the trail, because he is going to be at it all day, and if we don’t watch it, we’ll be involved also.
___ My problem is not usually overestimating my abilities, but underestimating them, which can cause just as much if not more problems. By thinking I can’t accomplish a certain task, I sell myself short. Not only that, I sell God short too.
___ There is nothing wrong with being realistic about your God-given abilities and talents. But there are times when I stay in my comfort zone rather than break out and let God stretch me. It is in those times we have to rely most heavily on God--because we know we can’t do it on our own.
___ The sin is not in the doing or the not doing, the overestimating or underestimating. The problem comes when we either rely on ourselves or forget to rely on God.
Mark Wingfield is managing editor of the Standard. Alison Wingfield is a freelance writer. The Wingfields moved to Texas from Louisville, Ky., where Mark had been editor of the Western Recorder, in which this column appeared weekly.
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