Tuesday, February 9, 2010

What is Done in Secret

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  Matthew 6:1-4
As an educator, there's a lot that I have to do that no one ever sees. Grading lab reports, tracking students' grades, setting up on-line materials, fixing typos, scouring for homework problems---It is all prep work that none of my students or colleagues ever see. It also makes for boring dinner table conversation. For example, imagine the following:


"How was your day?"


"It was okay."


"What made it just okay?"


"Well, I was trying to write comments on a student's pre-class reading assignment, and I wanted to say that the expectation value of momentum was definitely zero in this problem, but when I wrote it as <p>, the on-line software interpreted it as an html paragraph tag, and it came out looking strange. It took me about half an hour to figure out why. I'm still not sure how to fix it."


"Oh... okay."


I have to remind myself that God "sees in secret," and that He has a reward prepared, apart from how many people see it or hear about it.

2 comments:

  1. we had that conversation last week...

    let's just say, i understand your need to feel understood :)

    ReplyDelete

Disclaimer

The views expressed on this blog are solely my own and do not reflect the views of any present or past employers, funding agencies, colleagues, organizations, family members, churches, insurance companies, or lawyers I have currently or in the past have had some affiliation with.

I make no money from this blog. Any book or product endorsements will be based solely on my enthusiasm for the product. If I am reviewing a copy of a book and I have received a complimentary copy from the publisher I will state that in the review.