“A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.” (Proverbs 18:16 NKJV)
“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.” (1 Peter 5:6 NLT)
“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” (Proverbs 14:23 NIV)
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 BSB)
“Take care lest you forget the LORD your God…lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them…and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God…beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8:11-18 ESV abbreviated)
It’s time for me to wrap up these “Glory Day” recollections. As I look back on these days I am filled with emotions, both good and bad, happy and sad. I have been blessed with so many fantastic opportunities, and experienced so many victories that I cannot begin to share them all. At the same time I have blown more opportunities than I care to remember based on the poor choices that I have made. When I look to my past with a “glass half full” perspective I can easily allow myself to get puffed up with pride. When I look back with the “half empty” attitude I can very quickly become Winnie the Pooh’s Eeyore and begin to proclaim to everyone I meet, “Woe is me.”
Much of my life has been plagued with this learned cycle of success and defeat. Much of my vocational life has consisted of 3 – 5 year cycles in which I get hired into a promising position, work hard, get recognized and promoted, and then for various reasons get let go. As the theme of the old TV program “Wide World of Sports” used to say, I have known “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” So why am I sharing all of this?
Many say that experience is the best teacher. I don’t personally believe that (I believe that the Word taught by the Holy Spirit is the best teacher), however I do believe that the best experience to learn from is that of someone else. If you can learn from my experience then you can save many years and a whole lot of hurt in your life. So what have I learned?
…My hard work pays great dividends in my life.
…Discovering and making maximum use of my gifts and talents brings great results in my life.
…My success will quickly fail if I allow it to take my eyes off the Lord and my need to partner with Him in my life.
…If I allow my accomplishments to instill pride so that I think I am better than those around me I will soon find myself alone on a slippery slope to failure.
…If I think that I can ride on the successes of my past, and get “fat and happy” thinking that I no longer need to put in the effort that got me to where I am, I will quickly lose what I have worked so hard to achieve.”
…Most importantly, I can’t sow wild oats all week and then pray for a crop failure on Sunday!
I hope my experience can be a helpful teacher for you.