A North Carolina farmer was talking to a Texas rancher. The Texas rancher was bragging that his spread was soooooo big, that he got in his pick-up in the morning and didn’t reach the end of his spread until nightfall.
The North Carolina farmer replied, “Yup, I had me a pick-up like that once.”
That’s the trouble with bragging — no one seems to appreciate it as much as we do! But how will everyone know how important we are unless we tell them? So we tend to focus on ourselves — we talk about what we have accomplished, we talk about who we know, we talk about what we have just bought.
Can I offer a suggestion? Just for today, forget about yourself and focus on someone else. Take an interest in what someone else has accomplished, or better yet, take an interest in a problem that someone else is experiencing.
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:3-5).
But, if you do this, won’t others fail to realize just how important you are? Perhaps. But, more likely, they’ll recognize true greatness in your humility.
Alan Smith
