Be Excellent!

Homework with Caleb and Chiara is a whole situation. What began, with simple daycare assignments sent three times a week, has evolved into some pretty serious and time-consuming work. Before, I would go into homework time, relaxed and ready for whatever they each had for the day. Now, I go into that time with my game face on and Mr. Google handy just in case. I strategically sit in between my two C’s so that I can help one while the other is working and vice-versa. Last year, in addition to Caleb’s daily homework, as a new primary student, both he and Chiara also had daily reading work. Now, I can’t exactly blame the school because I am, after all, the Chief Executive responsible for academics and all these inclusions had been my idea. What I can say though, is that it hits differently when I am wearing my mom hat and having to make room for it all. All in all, it is amazing to see their growth, their level of understanding, what gaps need to be filled in on the back end of our academic program and how much they both enjoy learning. Caleb is great at Science and English while Mathematics comes quite easily for Chiara. French is a major work-in-progress and reading is the highlight of the day for us all. So while I am tired most days, homework time has become a time for me to take a keen peek into the worlds of my bambinos.

Sometime last year I noticed a slag in both Caleb and Chiara when it came to homework. They were both too relaxed and almost uninterested. It was then that I made our kitchen table our “Business Table.” I told them both that when we were at the ‘business table,’ we had to give our work our best effort. I also told them that Mupeta’s don’t say they don’t know because no matter how hard the question is, we try. To my surprise, I never had to give that speech again. Whenever either of them is tempted to be slack with their homework (Caleb mostly) or to go rogue with their colouring (Chiara mostly), they remind one another that we are at the ‘business table’ and we need to do our best work. Caleb will often ask his sister if her colouring or pretend yawning between each word read is her best work. On other days, Chiara will ask her brother if he has tried before saying he doesn’t know. I must admit these interactions and reminders make me feel accomplished as a mother. Lord knows it’s not every day I don’t have to repeat myself for the gazillionth time. It’s refreshing to know that even though they may not be able to understand the word ‘excellence,’ it is slowly being cultivated within them. Every, “Mommy look, I’m doing my best work,” is confirmation of this.

 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. ~ Daniel 6:3 (NKJV)

And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” ~ Mark 7:37 (ESV)

I often hear or see the word excellence in the core values of certain businesses or organisations and it makes me wonder if the meaning of this word is fully understood. No shade intended, but certain establishments that claim to value excellence leave so much to be desired. What gets to me the most is their lack of dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction isn’t the enemy. In my experience, dissatisfaction is a handy tool used by the Holy Spirit to get us to partner with Him concerning certain realities that do not reflect the Kingdom and character of God. When was the last time you were dissatisfied because your reality didn’t reflect God’s dream for you? There are beautiful moments in time when God’s dream begins to bubble up within us, making us uncomfortable because things around us don’t line up with what is rising on the inside. This, I think, is the best producer of excellence. This excellence isn’t made up or farfetched, it isn’t said just to be said, it’s excellence that comes forth because a picture of God is being painted. I want to challenge you to place your life under a magnifying glass looking for excellence. As you look, I have a few reminders of what excellence is and is not. I hope this encourages you to be excellent.

Excellence must become an identity

Excellence must become your identity not just your behaviour. If we are made in the image of our excellent God, we cannot be anything but excellent. This happens gradually though, the more we allow God to step into every aspect of our lives. Like I said before, we start getting uncomfortable with certain things, as God shows us a better way. Danial had an excellent spirit within him which means that he had become excellent. A sure way to test your excellence identity is to see if you do all things with excellence, even the unseen things. That’s the catch huh? It’s easy to do things excellently when you know you have an audience, but what happens behind closed doors? Our lack of excellence behind closed doors keeps us from enjoying the benefits of excellence because it is not yet a part of our identity. This is something you can change, and the best part is that God wants to help you do just that.

Focus and discipline are required

When we sow excellence day in and day out, it’s only a matter of time before we see excellence everywhere. Getting there takes focus and discipline. Such a life is anchored by the belief that ‘what represents you, must represent God well.’ This sounds like such a heavy load until we recognise that this posture is so attractive to God. When we set our minds and our hearts to conduct our affairs with excellence, a grace of God that was designed to set our lives ablaze is released. All of a sudden excellence goes into our relationships, how we date, how we show up at work, how we love our spouses, how we handle our finances, how we raise our children and even how they do their homework. It’s in this posture that our eating or drinking, or whatever we do, is done all for the glory of God. Yet, like I said, focus and discipline are required because excellence isn’t easy. If it was, everyone would be excellent. The focus and discipline come with realignment, submission and remaining teachable. Maintain your rhythm with God and allow Him to call you higher in different areas of your life.

Excellence must be pursued

Being excellent isn’t about having money. When excellence becomes a part of our identity, we can pursue excellence at any level. Being excellent isn’t about perfection. Perfection is a counterfeit of excellence, something I’ve had to learn. As a teenager, I shared a large room with my sister. Our room was sparsely furnished with a big light green rug, a double bed, a shoe rack, a chest of five drawers and my mom’s large deep freezer. At that time, I had already developed an eye for interior design and dissatisfaction pushed me to get creative with how we styled our room. Under our bed, we kept a large box that stored old books and other things of that sort. The excellent and creative spirit in me lugged that box out from under the bed one day, taped it up well, topped it with a flat wooden board I had found discarded in our yard and covered it with a green and purple striped flat sheet I purchased from a thrift store. I set that baby up in the right corner of our room and my sister and I placed our most treasured knick-knacks on it. The first time my mother saw it she wondered where we had gotten the new end table from. She laughed in surprise when we showed her the bones of our excellent end table. Don’t let the enemy fool you into believing that being excellent is only for those who have money. No, friend, even Jesus who was not wealthy when He walked the earth, did all things and conducted Himself in excellence. So, pursue excellence. See yourself in the excellence of others and let it inspire you. Read more and expose your mind to what is beyond the corners of your life experience. Whatever you do, don’t stop pursuing excellence.

Excellence is not a competition

You cannot be excellent if you’re busy sizing others up as your competition. The excellent spirit is never in competition because it only has eyes for God. As you pursue excellence, beware that you are not taking energy that you could be applying towards excellence and wasting it on giving others the bombastic side-eye. On the flipside, don’t let the lie that excellence is a competition, keep you from pursuing it because you don’t want to have a target on your back. Let me explain… When you are excellent, haters will get nervous. The truth is that whether you know it or not, there are people who have put themselves in competition with you. Being excellent distinguishes you and puts you on the radar of scoffers. It happened to Daniel, it happened to Jesus, it happened to Paul and many others who have chosen to pursue excellence for God’s name’s sake. Perhaps this is why you have consciously or unconsciously decided to fade into the background and run away from being excellent. It’s easier to fit in if you’re not excellent. While you may live a life that hardly causes any waves, you are missing out on the adventure that God has when He daydreams about you. My encouragement to you is to stay focused on God and what He is drawing out of you because you can’t be excellent while obsessively watching someone else.

Don’t settle

Excellence is always ahead of you. As we walk with God and become more like Him, we continue to evolve more into excellence. Choosing to evaluate our lives and see where we lack excellence is a great place to start when we have decided not to settle for less than the excellencies of God for our lives. I heard the quote, “What you excuse, you keep,” some years back and it has stuck with me. What areas of your life do you find yourself giving excuses for when challenged about it by those who love you? Perhaps we must humble ourselves and ask, “Lord, what is the most excellent way to think or go about this?” Deciding not to settle is deciding to live your life in this way: ‘If it’s not excellent, then it’s not me.” This sounds drastic and it is… Drastic enough to wait for the excellent thing, drastic enough to put off certain things because you are unable to execute them excellently, or drastic enough to scrap it all and start over. Our Heavenly Father is drastic, and we must be too. Allow the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to areas where you may have settled. Permit Him to set a fire under you that will get you moving again towards the excellencies He has prepared for you.

Excellence looks like God. As we pursue God an excellent spirit comes hand in hand. Submit yourself to that spirit. Allow God to reframe your thinking and challenge your comfort. Allow excellence to become a part of who you are as you pursue it faithfully. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the grace to exercise focus and discipline. Let the spirit of excellence rid you of the competitive spirit as you continually check your life for the reflection of God’s kingdom and character. I believe that as we seek God and seek to represent Him more excellently, His favour will follow us wherever we go.