Real Humility
A college girl visited the home of Beethoven. She slipped under the rope and began playing Beethoven’s piano. She said to the one in charge, “I suppose every musician who comes here wants to play this piano.” He explained to her that recently the great Pederewski was visiting there and someone asked him to play that piano. He replied, “No, I do not feel worthy to play the great master’s piano.”
To Appear Humble
Thomas More was ambitious, but he did not want people to know that he was. He loved the praise of the crowd and worked hard to create a public image of himself as a man who took no care for what people thought of him. Yet he hated criticism and responded furiously whenever attacked. He was gregarious, but he felt a contrary pull to solitude, loving isolation and serenity, and he never overcame his early longing for the unambitious, remote life of the cloistered monk, the monk he always thought he should have been. He worked hard to seem humble. But he always wanted to be somebody, and he always tried to make the public imagine that high position had been thrust upon him only because great and wise men insisted that his talents were too large to be hidden. Few people have enjoyed greater success in advertising their humility. –Richard Marius
A Perspective on Success
A newspaper reporter was interviewing an old rancher and asked him to what he would attribute his success as a rancher. With a twinkle in his eye, the man replied, “It’s been about 50 percent weather, 50 percent good luck, and the rest is brains.”
Applause
The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen was greeted by a burst of applause when he made his appearance as a speaker at a meeting in Minneapolis. He responded by saying: “Applause before a speaker begins is an act of faith. Applause during the speech is an act of hope. Applause after he had concluded is an act of charity.”
Lewis on Humility
C.S. Lewis recounts that when he first started going to church, he disliked the hymns, which he considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as he continued, he said, “I realize that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.” –Paul Brand
The Gift of Standing By
Donald Grey Barnhouse told the story (supposedly true) about Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. When he moved to Washington, DC, to take up his duties as chief justice, he transferred his membership letter to a Baptist church in the area. His father had been a Baptist minister and he also made a profession of faith in Christ. It was the custom for all new members to come to the front of the sanctuary at the close of the worship service. The first to be called that morning was Ah Sing, a Chinese laundryman who had moved to the capital from the West Coast. He took his place at the far side of the church. As the dozen or so other people were called forward, they stood at the opposite side of the church, leaving Ah Sing standing alone. But when Chief Justice Hughes was called, he took his place beside the laundryman. When the minister had welcomed the group into the church fellowship, he turned to the congregation and said, “I do not want this congregation to miss this remarkable illustration of the fact that at the cross of Jesus Christ the ground is level.” Barnhouse commented: “Mr. Hughes behaved like a true Christian. He took his place beside the laundryman, and by his act he prevented embarrassment to the humble Chinese; he showed, too, the love of Christ—he had this gift of standing by.”
A Word for Humility
Muhammad Ali was in his prime, and as he was about to take off on an airplane flight, the stewardess reminded him to fasten his seat belt. He came back brashly, “Superman don’t need no seat belt.” The stewardess quickly came back, “Superman don’t need no airplane, either.” Ali fastened his belt.
Brokaw the Celebrity
Success can sometimes dazzle you in the achieving, but there’s usually someone around to help you keep perspective. TV newsman Tom Brokaw has a story about that:
Brokaw was wandering through Bloomingdale’s in New York one day, shortly after he was promoted to cohost on the “Today” show. That show was a pinnacle of sorts for Brokaw after years of work, first in Omaha, then for NBC in Los Angeles and Washington, and he was feeling good about himself. He noticed a man watching him closely. The man kept staring at him and finally, when the man approached him, Brokaw was sure he was about to reap the first fruits of being a New York television celebrity.
The man pointed his finger and said, “Tom Brokaw, right?”
“Right,” said Brokaw.
“You used to do the morning news on KMTV in Omaha, right?”
“That’s right,” said Brokaw, getting set for the accolades to follow.
“I knew it the minute I spotted you,” the fellow said. Then he paused and added, “Whatever happened to you?”
More Humility
A pastor was asked to speak for a certain charitable organization. After the meeting, program chairman handed the pastor a check. “Oh, I couldn’t take this,” the pastor said with some embarrassment. “I appreciate the honor of being asked to speak. You have better uses for this money. You apply it to one of those uses.” The program chairman asked, “Well, do you mind if we put it into our Special Fund?” The pastor replied, “Of course, not. What is the special fund for?” The chairman answered, “It’s so we can get a better speaker next year.”
Commencement
I remember when I got my diploma several years ago—it was an exciting day, with all the processionals, the ceremony, the talks by the speakers who told us about our responsibility to save the world. I remember after I got my diploma in my hand, as the crowd began to disperse, I looked around me past the stadium to the city beyond and then began to think of the size of the world that lay even beyond and then began to think of the size of the world that lay even beyond the city. I looked down at my diploma again, then back at the city and the world, and as I turned again to the diploma, from out of nowhere, those famous words by Tallulah Bankhead suddenly came into my mind, “Truly, there is less here than meets the eye.”
A Decisive Moment
Former Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan tells the story of being on Air Force One. He was in the back compartment of the jet while President Reagan was in the front of the compartment.
The phone rang in the back compartment and the voice said, “Mr. Donovan, the president would like for you to join him for lunch.” Secretary Donovan straightened his tie and thought to himself how important he was to have the president ask him to lunch.
Just as Donovan walked through the doorway into the president’s compartment, the red phone rang, the Presidential Hot Line. Wow—what a moment to be present! Reagan picked up the phone and said, “Yes—uh-huh. Yes—what are my options?” Donovan’s heart almost stopped. His mind raced. Then President Reagan continued, “OK, I’ll have the iced tea!” Donovan’s ego was deflated.
Intimidation of the Great
Christian Herter was running hard for reelection as governor of Massachusetts, and one day he arrived late at a barbecue. He’d had no breakfast or lunch, and he was famished. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate and received one piece of chicken. The governor said to the serving lady, “Excuse me, do you mind if I get another piece of chicken. I’m very hungry.” The woman replied, “ Sorry, I’m supposed to give one piece to each person.” He repeated, “But I’m starved,” and again she said, “Only one to a customer.” Herter was normally a modest man, but he decided this was the time to use the weight of his office and said, “Madam, do you know who I am? I am the governor of this state.” She answered, “Do you know who I am? I’m the lady in charge of chicken. Move along, mister.” This is a woman who knew her position and wasn’t about to be intimidated. Do we as Christians recognize the significant position in which we stand because of Christ?
The Irreplaceable You
Dick Jones lived as if everything in the whole community depended upon him. One morning he woke up early with a high fever. His wife called next door to a doctor friend. When he diagnosed that Jones had viral pneumonia, he suggested that Dick stay in bed for several days, but Dick complained, “No! I’ve got a breakfast meeting at the school, I’m president of the PTA board, then I’ve got crucial business at the office, a luncheon date, and three very important dates this afternoon, and then the Building Committee at church this evening. There’s no way I can be sick today doctor.”
“I’m sorry,” says his doctor friend, “but Dick, I don’t know anyone who’s indispensable, and I suggest you stay in bed.” But at that very moment, as the story goes, Dick’s high fever sent him into a trance. And there in that trance, he saw himself looking in on heaven. The angels were gathering around God and His holy throne. But everything seemed to be in disarray, some papers were being passed around, and finally after some discussion, the angels passed a significant-looking paper to God. He read it and God was obviously upset. God got up off His throne and said, “Oh, no! Oh, no! What will I do today? What will I do?” The angels in chorus said, “What is it, God? What is it?” And God replied, “What will I do today? Dick Jones is sick!”
The Ocean of Truth
I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding the smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. –Isaac Newton