By [name withheld]

“I cannot believe this is happening.”

These were my thoughts at the recent college alumni banquet. Unknowingly, we were chosen for an alumnus award the school confers annually. We found out at the banquet, attended by over 600 people, as our pictures from babyhood to the present flashed on the auditorium screen. To top it off, family members, including my octogenarian parents, surreptitiously showed up. Shock. Tears. Hugs.

Many of us have probably wondered what it would be like to be the one on stage. The reality was far more overwhelming and challenging than I would have thought!

In processing my cacophony of emotions, I shared my struggle with a friend. She simply said, “The Lord was honored.” I pondered that statement. Galatians 2:20 states, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” IF that is true, then I also have to agree that God, working through us, should obtain honor and praise.  

I once read that those who struggle with accepting criticism also do not handle praise well. Being offended by criticism and being puffed up by praise both reflect pride and self-focus. 

However, if my “One Thing,” like David, is focusing on the LORD and “gazing at His beauty all the days of my life,” then I am forgotten. Can I so lose myself in knowing and being with God that I, like Moses, am oblivious to glowing with His glory? May it be so LORD! 

“….the twenty-four elders fall down before Him, who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: ‘You are worthy, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power…” Revelation 4:10-11