We Take Ourselves Too Seriously

There was a semester in collage that things did not go well.  It's a long story, but I ended up taking an incomplete in two classes and finishing them up in the summer that followed.  One of these classes was linear algebra.  The professor had given me his home telephone number* and told me to call him at home when I was ready to take the final exam.  I called him to see if I could meet with him and ask some questions before taking the exam.

I remember his wife answering the telephone.  After I asked for Dr. Slaby, I could hear her in the background with a sarcastic tone saying, "Someone wants to talk with Dr Slaby".  She was teasing him a bit about his doctor title.  It's important to have people in our lives to keep us humble.  A wife fills that role excellently.

Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously.  We can elevate our own importance and wrap it up in pride.  At the same time that we are taking ourselves too seriously we don't take God seriously enough.

So God we need to take more seriously.Have you ever tried to talk with someone who isn't listening?  It is very frustrating.  After a while you want to scream, "I am not talking to myself!!!!!"  Part of taking someone seriously is listening to them.  Hearing what they are saying and heading that advice.   I guess this can be summed by saying that we need to listen to God's advice more than we listen to our own.

And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. - Mark 4:24




*Note: Giving a student your home telephone number was not standard operating procedure for a professor.  Dr. Slaby was a special teacher.  He was demanding but exceptionally approachable professor.  In this particular instance he went the extra mile to help me through a tough time.  In writing this post, I googled him to see if he was still at the university, but suspecting he had retired.  I found that he passed away in 2010 and although I haven't spoken to him in 25 years, I am saddened by his passing.