stubborn vs. stubborn

Each morning I wake up with the thought that I need to go walk two miles.  There are three reasons for this.  First of all, God has called me to work with children, so I need to be in good physical health just to keep up with them.  Secondly, I need to be in as good health as possible simply to serve others and lastly, I hate tight fitting clothes. 
It would be so much easier to stay in bed, snuggle up with Michael and snooze another half hour.  However, I am stubborn in many ways, so even though my body screams at me at times to let it go this once, I remind myself that I "let it go" each Sunday, but today I am going to walk.  It is times like this when I am grateful for my stubborn side.
There are other times, however, when I look at myself and wonder why I am being so hard headed.  When someone pronounces a word incorrectly, why does this overwhelming desire come over me to correct them?  When I am told I can't do something that I really have no desire to do, why do I desperately want to prove that I can?  This is a little something in me that I call prideful stubbornness.
These are the times I wish the stubborn streak would go away.
Truth be told, stubbornness is not a negative quality.  It is when it is mixed with pride that it causes us problems.  When used to make ourselves do what is right regardless of how we feel or what others will think, just because we know it is what God desires of us, then it is GREAT!
As I walked by a neighbor's yard this morning I actually said to God, "Lord, why don't they just pour gasoline or weed killer on those weeds that are growing between the road and the curb?  It would look so much better and wouldn't destroy the curb."  I actually thought that maybe I should pull them up for them for a brief minute.  I felt that prideful stubbornness welling up inside and almost convinced myself in that moment that it would be the right thing to do.
Then I walked by our yard and God told me to take a look at it.  I saw weeds.  They were small weeds mind you, but weeds, and what God spoke to my heart made me at first ashamed and then I laughed at myself.  He said:
"You have weeds too.  They are just smaller, but the smaller they are, the harder they are to recognize.  Don't try to remove the speck in your brother's eye until you remove the board from your own." 
My yard and my life are filled with many little weeds that need pulling.  I am shown only one or two at a time, because that's all I can handle.  I am ever grateful for my Lord Who loves me enough to put up with my silliness, all my weeds, my prideful stubbornness and everything else and still love me enough to discipline me.