All Blessings Are Deserved

Today’s reading: Matthew 20:1-16

Back in my days as a graduate student I used to wander into my favorite professor’s office regularly  to  absorb his wit and wisdom. This popular teacher was universally admired by his students. (Among his accolades was a national College Journalism Teacher of the Year” award). But it always bothered me that he and his colleagues were often feuding. (Just before I arrived at the school several other teachers had apparently played a strong role in his demotion from chairman of the department.)

I never knew the specifics of my mentor’s fights with the other professors,  but I understood the gist. And I agreed with his main complaint: most of the school’s other full-time teachers spent too much time away from their offices.

“We have too many 14-hour work weeks going on here,” my friend grumbled many an afternoon as he and I would meander through empty hallways, past dozens of locked teacher offices, on the way to the courtyard where he took his cigarette breaks (usually joined by a handful of his adoring students). This great man’s booming, friendly voice, meanwhile, could usually be heard around the school for 14 hours a day. He was the epitome of a devoted — and beloved — teacher.

I felt empowered by his complaint. It was refreshing to hear. My experience with many of the other professors was frustrating. They were simply unapproachable! I found most of them hard to reach even by telephone and email.  Many even could not be counted upon to keep their posted office hours, and they often had very pressing matters to attend to immediately after their classes.  When I could track them down, they rarely took much interest in my questions or problems.  I felt as if I was annoyance to them. I often told myself that, had I known I would be treated this way, I certainly would have chosen a different school.

I often wondered, as did my fellow students, what these people did all day to earn their large salaries, of which we were  very jealous. Several of us poorly paid teaching assistants spent many evenings at the local bars commiserating about all the professors who were happy to accept public credit for the stellar work that we had done on their behalf.

Recalling all of this brings me sympathy for the workers in today’s reading.

“Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ (Verses 10-12)

I actually had things worse than these workers. I didn’t receive even a quarter of what the professors were paid!

Then …. Not long after leaving my graduate school, I learned the lesson of today’s reading.

I became a high school teacher in a large public school system whose administrators were very focused on accountability.  To avoid the sort of problems I saw at my graduate school, we teachers were required to carefully document nearly every move we made on the job.

Our lesson plans were scrutinized. Our emails were monitored. The school’s telephone system kept track of what numbers we called and how long I  talked. The copy machine recorded how much paper I used and a digital version of all that I copied remained on the machine’s hard drive for possible inspection by a supervisor.  My classroom was even wired with an intercom system that would allow an administrator to eavesdrop at any time. (I should not have been surprised to find out that the teacher’s break room was similarly wired!) And, as a final precaution, teachers were prohibited from closing classroom doors during their classes. (One day I yelled a little too loudly at some unruly students, and seconds after the class ended, I received a principal’s email telling me that several other teachers had complained.)

I found this too much. I did not last long at this school.

Shortly after submitting my resignation, I realized that the very atmosphere that had driven me from this school was the same one that I wished my graduate school had adopted for its teachers.

As they say, we should be careful what we wish for. I suddenly understood why my mentor was unpopular with his colleagues.

Today’s reading is a good reminder that God wants (actually needs) me to  just do my best work without concern for what others do. Yes, it is frustrating when others work less for more pay. But to complain of that is to fall victim to the Devil’s game. It also is a sign that I have forgotten the many times when others have been similarly (and unjustly) frustrated with me.

Thanks be to God for the blessings He bestows upon  me. May I never be jealous of another man’s equally glorious blessing.