Many years ago, my DH and I were pastoring a small Kansas congregation that was struggling to find their niche in the community in which it was located. As a part of the discovery process, the church closed in order to “retool” and “remodel”. During that time, we attempted to develop a philosophy by which to operate and what we set as our goal was to do whatever we did “with excellence”. While there were many failures on our part – this idea has stuck with me over the last twenty years and I think that striving for excellence should be our intention. The idea is not that the end result is perfect, but that as the worker of the idea, you gave the best part of yourself to the project. You made it a priority. You didn’t cut corners. You valued the whole rather than just yourself.
Excellence. the quality of being outstanding or extremely good.
What I am talking about here, is the quality of the worker – not the actual finished project. Did the person tasked with the job give with excellence to the job, project, or concept. Did the worker, despite what the rest of the team was doing, or not doing, commit to giving excellently (in an outstanding manner) to the project. Because, in the end, you are really only responsible for your own behavior. In every project that you take on. If you can’t do it with excellence, say no. If you are not in a position to say no, then realize that one way or the other you will need to complete said project – and commit yourself to giving it your best.
The task at hand for me is being unemployed. I was not in a position to say no to this task. It was put on my plate and I have had to decide what to do with it. So – let’s do unemployment “with excellence”. I hope that I can continue with that attitude, when the going gets tougher. I pray that I do have the stamina to be excellent when the “to do list” runs out. I want to believe that I will be able to stand in my faith and trust that the financial insecurity will not be unbearable. We will have to see – today I still have the comfort zone of unemployment checks. The week of July 31st is rapidly approaching however.
In the meantime – I am doing as many things as I can with excellence. I am taking advantage of opportunities of time to accomplish tasks that have been “waiting” for me for years. And I have been able to enjoy free time that in the past I was longing to have. It is amazing, however, how quickly the day can slip by with “free time” and then I ask myself “what did I accomplish today?”. Just yesterday, my hubby, with no malice, asked what I did for the day. Hmmmm …. not much. Some laundry, a couple of applications, and blog writing. Was that using my time with excellence? I am not sure. So I will keep practicing.
So what does one do with excellence with their day when the big “tasks” have been addressed? Today- I will get into some genealogy boxes – something I have not really taken the time to do in recent years and attempt to understand some more of my personal history. And I will do so with excellence – I will be extremely good at researching – lol! Then I will make dinner with excellence and touch base with my kids with excellence – you get the picture! And I will work on being excellent at not feeling guilty that I have this opportunity. That will be the most difficult task.
Be excellent yourselves today – whatever your task at hand. You and only you have control over how you approach each situation. You don’t have to like the task, but you will feel better about the situation if you grab it and give it the best attention that you have, so that in the end you can “look yourself in mirror” and say you did your best. What happens after that … that is someone else’s opportunity to work with excellence.
