13/12/2014
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Judy Merry.
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Judy Merry
REPUTATION
Good morning.聽 Quite a few years ago I was sent on a management course and the delegate who was probably the youngest person there asked the course leader for some advice.聽 鈥淲hat should I do if one of my staff comes to me with a problem and I don鈥檛 have a ready answer?鈥澛 The course leader said, 鈥淚 think you should shut your office door, leave the building and go for a walk round the park for half an hour.鈥澛 He said, "But what will my staff think?鈥澛 The course leader assured him that - whatever his staff thought - he鈥檇 almost certainly have solved the problem by the time he got back to the office.聽
Deep down I knew the advice was good, but I don鈥檛 think there was anyone in the room who didn鈥檛 worry that they鈥檇 be misunderstood if they took it.聽 Most of us care (perhaps more than we like to admit) about what others think of us and that鈥檚 probably why Jesus often singled out the status-conscious: the sort of person who gives generously to charity, but makes sure everybody knows it - and how much.聽 He said that when you give to people in need, don鈥檛 let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.聽 In other words: do it quietly - even secretly - and certainly don鈥檛 shout about it.聽
But even if we don鈥檛 shout about our virtues - whether it鈥檚 our generosity in giving or our competence at work - deep down most of us would quite like other people to notice.聽 The crime writer, Dorothy L. Sayers, summed it up in her novel Gaudy Night: 鈥楬owever loudly we may assert our own unworthiness, few of us are really offended by hearing the assertion contradicted by a disinterested party.鈥
Perhaps that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 so impressive when we hear about those 鈥榮ecret philanthropists鈥: people who do good and genuinely don鈥檛 want other people to know.聽 Maybe there are more of them around than we think.聽 But then - who would know?
Lord, may we care less about what others think of us - and more about what is right. Less about our reputation in the world and more about who you want us to be. Amen.
Broadcast
- Sat 13 Dec 2014 05:43大象传媒 Radio 4