'Press Clippins'

My ultimate performance review came in the inter-office mail a couple days after the presentation. Twenty-eight years ago I spent a brief career in corporate America working for a private oil & gas company. George Cunyas, the wise, wily old General Counsel listened politely and patiently to a presentation I was making to the Executive Committee. While the other fourteen participants showered me with accolades upon my completion, George quietly left the room to tend to his other duties.

His assessment of my performance came a couple of days later in the inter-office mail. A glowing review of the work I had done to compile a massive amount of information in a concise, and highly organized manner. It was followed by a life changing post script em, "P.S. May we never believe our own press clippings!" A moniker that I have lived by every day since! So simple...so direct. A gracious reminder that no matter who we are, or how great the things are that we've done, humble pie is best served in response to life's thundering applause!

This was a new brand of Jello for a guy who used to run to the local paper the day after one of his basketball games to see his name in the box score!

But 'never believing in our own press clippings' is the correct attitude!  Our moral compass for absolute truth, the Bible says it this way, "Your flip and callous arrogance in these things bothers me. You pass it off as a small thing, but it's anything but that. Yeast, too, is a "small thing," but it works its way through a whole batch of bread dough pretty fast. So get rid of this "yeast."" (1 Corinthians 5:6 - The Message). If Jesus Christ "...made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant...", should we do any differently?


No one appreciates talent more than I do. But I find it singularly refreshing when I stumble across someone who is immensely talented, has the resume to prove it, but their greatness can only be discovered over an extended period of time. In other words, they don't wear their greatness on their shirtsleeve! 

Believe it or not we all serve an audience of One! Why do we spend so much time trying to impress people who's opinion really doesn't have any eternal significance?