PRIDE

from: Valley of Vision

O THOU TERRIBLE MEEK,

Let not pride swell my heart.
My nature is the mire beneath my feet, the dust to which I shall return.
In body I surpass not the meanest reptile;
Whatever difference of form and intellect is mine is a free grant of they goodness;
Every faculty of mind and body is thy undeserved gift.
Low as I am a creature, I am lower as a sinner;
I have trampled they law times without number;
Sin's deformity is stamped upon me, darkens my brow, touches me with corruption:
How can I flaunt myself proudly?
Lowest abasement is my due place, for I am less than nothing before thee.
Help me to see myself in thy sight, then pride must wither, decay, die, perish.
Humble my heart before thee, and replenish it with thy choicest gifts.
As water rests not on barren hill summits, but flows down to fertilize lowest vales,
So make me the lowest of the lowly, that my spiritual riches may exceedingly abound.
When I leave duties undone, may condemning thought strip me of my pride, deepen in me devotion to thy service, and quicken me to more watchful care.
When I am tempted to think highly of myself, grant me to see the wily power of my spiritual enemy;
Help me to stand with wary eye on the watch-tower of faith, and to cling with determined grasp to my humble Lord;
If I fall let me hide myself in my Redeemer's righteousness, and when I escape, may I ascribe all the deliverance to they grace.
Kee me humble, meek, lowly.