Mathematics Award

My daughter certainly woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning but once she got to school her day had brightened. My daughter and I have an understanding which is every day she wakes up by herself, gets dressed, makes her bed, brushes her hair and teeth and goes downstairs to have breakfast. If she does all of these things each week she gets her allowance of $1 on Friday. She has been great the past four weeks getting up without an incident; however; for some reason today was different. She doesn't like it if my wife or I go into her room before she gets out of bed. This morning my wife had to get something out of my daughter's room while my daughter was still in bed. My daughter took exception to this and thought she wasn't going to get her allowance because Mom had to wake her up. I quickly explained to her if she got up and did the things she was supposed to do then she would still get her allowance.

My daughter has a bit of a stubborn (I wonder where she gets this from??) streak in her and carried on and on about my wife waking her up. She took a very long time to get out of bed and was almost late for school. In fact, when she got to school she was crying because she thought she was late. This little girl puts so much pressure on herself my wife and I have to be careful not to add any further pressure because it would be detrimental. When she got to class everyone in her class asked her why she was crying and her response; "I don't want to talk about it!!"

Her mood quickly changed when the class was departing for the Awards Assembly and her teacher told her she was getting an award. My wife, myself and our son were in the auditorium to watch her receive this award. It was an award for excellence in mathematics. She really is quite good at math and it comes very easy. (I guess she takes after her Aunts!) I am amazed at some of her homework problems; she is in the second grade and is very good at deciphering word problems. She really is doing a form of pre-algebra. I am not sure who is going to be able to help her with her math homework when she gets to the sixth grade because it will be well beyond my expertise!! She is a great girl and I love her so much. I was so happy to be able to be there this morning and watch her receive this award. Her early morning tears gave way to her big beautiful smile.

As I was reading the A Day at a Time book from Gamblers Anonymous I noticed a reference to the seven deadly sins. I didn't know what the seven deadly sins were so I looked them up and they are pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth. These are in order and I had no idea pride was a deadly sin. I thought pride was a good characteristic but I was very wrong. In terms of the seven deadly sins pride is defined as excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity. I understand vanity and I now understand why pride would be the gateway to all the other deadly sins.

My pride/vanity lead me into a destructive path because I thought I was better than everyone else and could do things my way. I completely lost touch with the grace of God and thought I was the one that could fix everything. I fooled myself and now I understand; for the grace of God go I NOT the other way around. I can't fix everything, I don't know everything and I am certainly not better than anyone else.

I have written this before everyday I try to learn something new and today was no exception. Pride/vanity in myself led to false thinking which led to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. Now with the grace of God, my family, friends and the fellowship of Gamblers Anonymous I recognize I am not the one who is all knowing and all powerful; yes, my humiliation has led me to humility.