Excellence...not perfection

Ok, I know I've been on a Darlene Zschech kick the past week (or month) but her book The Art of Mentoring has so many great nuggets of truth.

"Those who really know the goodness of God do not pursue perfectionism, which only produces fear - they pursue excellence, which is the willingness to risk everything for love of the Lord.

Any form of honest leadership required the leader to teach the most excellent way. Not the easy way, or a shortcut way for a quick-fix compromise, but the way of integrity that sets a standard of excellence."

Proverbs 22:29 says, "Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank."

"In your home, excellence will mean serving, forgivign, respecting, and taking responsibikty for your actions so that others can see God's Word domonstrated and practically applied through your example. In your local church and community, excellence will require sensitivity and generosity to the needs of others, time to build relationship, and a willingness to lay down your life so others can get ahead. We do the extra mile becaues we care. Yes, excellence takes more time, more heart, and more devotion than you and I can muster in our own strength, 'but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.'" 2 Cor 4:7 (DZ)

"One of our highest goals in life should be to have an excellent spirit. And Daniel is our champion example in this regard. Daniel 6 reports that he was put in charge of the whole kingdom because of his excellent spirit.

The world has no match for an excellent spirit - it will outrank any gifting, talent, or charisma. And even though the sacrifices will not be without cost, the results will be a timeple that is absolutely stunning, a showcase temple for future generations to model." (DZ)

"If you are going to achieve excellence in BIG things, you develop the habit in little things."

 Colin Powell

I'm a Work in Progress!

I am a promise
I am a possibility
I am a promise with a capital "P"
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learnin' to hear God's voice
And I am tryin' to make the right choice
I am a promise to be anything God wants me to be.

I can go anywhere that He wants me to go
I can be anything He wants me to be
I can climb the high mountains
I can cross the wide sea
I'm a great big promise you see!

http://youtu.be/Qo7Kh5zhdUY

Did anyone else grow up singing this song? 

I did! 

It came to mind as I was about to write out my "Work in Progress" statements

that I've been working on. I can't even begin to count the times that I've been "tryin'" to 

hear God's voice or "tryin" to make the right choice...

As I child it's so simple to sing these words with uninhibited FAITH. 

Yet, as life begins to happen, we often wonder if there really is all that much "promise or possibility" inside of us. Can I really go anywhere He wants me to go? Can I really be anything He wants me to be? 

Can I really climb the high mountains of life? Can I really cross the stormy seas that come my way? 

Am I really a "great big bundle of potentiality"? 

Those are some of the questions that cross my mind as an adult that never did when I sang it so confidently as a child.

Can I really do this wife thing well? Can I really be a good mom to my kids? Can I really see others walking close to Jesus because I inspired, motivated, or challenged them to walk a better path than the worlds? And when it really comes down to it....

Who does He really want me to be? 

I often know what I want to be. Or what other people want me to be. But do I really know or care what He wants me to be? 

The only way that I can know the answer to this question is if I stay connected to Him through His Word and communicating with Him! We have to learn to filter the other voices of society, our friends, our family, even our church sometimes and rely soley on asking the Lord to help us become the person that He created us to be. 

In the Ladies' Bible Study that I've been hosting we are walking through our PRIORITIES.

Jesus, Husband, Children, Home, Ministry, Me.

 (I also believe that we could put in extend family and friends on that list because many of us are very involved with both those sets of people and they also take time, effort, and energy, but for now we'll leave the list as is.)

We were supposed to write out a list of how we actually have them prioritized in our lives. Probably not all of us can put them in the order listed above which I believe is Biblical. 

Mine were not all in line properly. As I'm guessing most of ours aren't, but it's something to work towards. In order to help get us to the place of realligning our priorities we were to each write out a "Work-in-Progress" statement for each one that showed some of the what and whys and hows. 

Here's mine: 

Jesus - "I desire to know Jesus and know Him more intimately. I can only ackomplish this through DAILY spending time with Him through reading His Word and talking with Him. I'm going to try to get up EVERY day at 6:30 AM to spend time alone with Him, have a cup of tea to quiet my spirit and commune with Jesus." 

Husband - "I desire to make our marriage my #2 priority. Right under my relationship with Jesus. I want to be more conscience of his needs. Be a helper, not a nagger. And to understand that my God-given role brings joy to my life." 

Children - "I desire to teach, train, encourage, and exhort my children in righteousness and what it means love Jesus with their ENTIRE heart for their ENTIRE life! I want to fully understand and live out the awareness that it is my responsibility to help them discover their God-given gifts and then to help foster those as well as developing real-life skills in them." 

Home - "I desire to provide a warm, loving, and nurturing environment for my family to dwell in. If I cannot manage my space well, then I cannot expect my children to manage theirs well. I want to give them an example to follow as they begin a family of their own. I see in Scripture that hospitality is something that I am to be doing as a Christian. So in order to do that, I must maintain a level of cleanliness and order so that others may enjoy my home as well. I also want to FILL my home with Scripture and worship music." 

Ministry/Serving Others - "My soul is filled when I give out. It is my desire to share Jesus with those who are walking a similar journey as I am. I also desire to see a generation of children, youth, young adults, and younger wives and mothers realizing that God has called them, set them apart, and has a plan for them! I need to grow in the area of personal evangelism." 

Personal - "I desire to be the best ME that God planned me to be. In order to do that, I must feed myself spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physcially. I must set aside time each day with Jesus. Allow myself time each day to read something encouraging like a Christian book or blog even if it's only 10 minutes. Remind myself daily to not allow my emotions to dictate my actions. Live a healthy lifestyle through good eating habits and exercise. I also need to schedule in times each month to do things I enjoy or that challenge me like family outings, quilting, blogging, etc or they simply don't happen. I desire above all to smile, be humble and gentle, be fun and loving, to be encouraging, to be patient and forgiving, to serve others, to forgive myself, to be the best follower of Christ, wife, mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, teacher, leader, servant, etc. that I can be!" 

Praying that we all are striving to BE more like Jesus and allign our priorities up to His will.  

Have a blessed day!