Balancing Honor and Humility

Monday 3/19/2012 4:57 AM

I was recently nominated as one of the Outstanding Faculty of the Year at Cerritos College.  The recipients of the award are honored at a luncheon and are given a medallion to wear at graduation and a small plaque to adorn their office wall.  Last week I had my picture taken for the program commemorating the event and I have been asked to write a two hundred word biography that will also be included.  Condensing thirty-four years of teaching into two hundred words is proving to be a difficult task, especially for someone whose gift is mathematics and not the written word.

I was thinking about this as I went for my run this morning and I likened it to an obituary.  Sometimes when I read people’s obituaries or hear them eulogized at a memorial service I hardly recognize the persons I knew.  Often their positive qualities are over-emphasized and their faults are minimized so the person portrayed is nearly unrecognizable as the person who actually lived.  I am receiving this award because at least one person thinks I do a good job of teaching but, for me, the difficulty lies in how to accurately describe my professional life to acknowledge what others see without becoming maudlin or overly complimentary.

My devotional guide this week directed me to read Psalm 36.  David begins by describing the sinfulness of the wicked.  Verse 2 serves as a reminder to avoid being overly complimentary, “In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect their own sin.”  I know some people like that; who have such a high opinion of themselves that they think their poop doesn’t stink.  There are others who can never take a compliment and are always belittling themselves and engaging in self-deprecating humor.  The challenge is finding a balance between those two extremes.

I wondered what God would say about me if he were going to introduce me at the luncheon.  He knows me completely, warts and all.  I'm sure he would not sugar coat my faults but neither would he minimize the positive contributions I have made.  The Bible provides his description of those who please him the most.  God simply says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  I pray that his description fits the work I do at Cerritos College.