Excellence is a Habit
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
Often when we think of excellence in life, we think of a single great deed. While there can be no question that there are many excellent moments in the span of our lifetimes, an excellent life is not defined by one shining moment - it is defined by how we live each day.
I believe that we have all been blessed by our Creator with our own individual set of abilities. We have all known people with special aptitudes - from that mechanic who can diagnose your car's problems just by listening to the engine, to the athlete who can effortlessly toss a football 75 yards. Mothers often have special aptitudes in being able to determine their child's exact needs - often before the child itself realizes that it has a need.
The older I get, the more I am convinced that each one of us need to go beyond just going through the necessary activities of the every day in order that we may also truly pursue excellence. We will still get up in the morning and handle our responsibilities, but we cannot be satisfied with that - even a skunk takes care of his basic needs. We need to have an excellent purpose and then march boldly in the direction of that purpose. Since we have all been put here by God, we need first to make sure that our striving for excellence is with His goals in mind.
Once we have accomplished that, we can then begin to use our imagination and make big plans. If you like cooking more than anything else, become as close to a master chef as you can. If it's basketball that interests you, develop a plan as to how you can make yourself the best player you can be. If it's raising show pigs, put everything you have into making them champions. The point of all this is not to encourage obsession, it is to live the life of your dreams in the direction that you have a passion for.
More than anything else, we need to pursue excellence in our service to the Lord. While we do this in part out of a sense of the duty that we have to God, we need to develop ourselves into the best servants we can be because we love Him and have a sincere passion for His service. It is when we achieve that status that we can begin to accomplish the purpose for which the Master has put us here for.
Aim for perfection...
II Corinthians 13:11
