"It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys." This saying enjoyed some popularity several years ago when "turkey" served as an all-purpose lighthearted insult. Even though the saying might ring true in our experience, it conceals an attitude that can keep us from succeeding in life and ministry.

Even if we abandon the turkey metaphor as the product of a bygone decade, we still know people who live their lives assuming the inferiority of those around them. Those other people aren't as smart or as committed as I am. They don't get it. They're not part of the solution but part of the problem. And so on.

As a famous television psychologist might ask, How's that attitude working for you? Not well, I imagine. When we decide we are surrounded by idiots, the idiots around us rarely admit their deficiencies and line up to receive our advice. I once knew a student preacher who worried about the effect of artificial fertilizers on the environment. I remember his shock and dismay when he told the farmers in his church they should stop using the fertilizers but they kept right on doing what they had always done. They just didn't get it. In a similar way, whenever I have decided that only I know the right way, a surprising number of people disagree with me. And I have seen more than one person fail in life - or at least get stuck for a long time - because of a high view of himself and a low view of the people around him.

We can find two ways out of the surrounded-by-idiots problem. One way recognizes the goodness, intelligence, and commitment of other people and concludes they are not the defectives they once appeared to be. When we open our eyes to other people's capabilities and give them the benefit of the doubt, they often blossom before our eyes. Actually, they don't change but our attitude toward them changes. Giving a little credit where credit is due goes a long way toward making us the kind of people who can play well with others.

The other way out of the surrounded-by-idiots problem lies in acknowledging that we can be idiots too. None of us knows everything. As Will Rogers said, "Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." None of us always makes sound decisions. None of us gets everything right all the time. That's why we need each other.

Surrounded by idiots, are you? I'll bet those idiots have some good ideas, and I'll bet yours are no better than theirs. To succeed in life and ministry, we need a little humility and a little appreciation for others.