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| Arrows of Conviction |
The pastor’s words turned into arrows flying in every direction of the room, one arrow landed straight into my heart. The word MEDIOCRITY lingered through me. I searched for its synonyms. I found inferiority, deficiency, inability, inadequacy, lack, weakness, averageness, commonness, normality, commonplaceness. For the entire week after I heard the Pastor’s sermon, I was convicted to search my inner self for any mediocrities that I need to dig out and get rid out of my system. Mediocre by definition means “of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate; and rather poor or inferior.” (Dictionary.com)
A mental inventory of my mediocrities took place at my daily meditation. 2011 is just around the corner, and I have a little time to spare to put together my New Year’s Resolution Packet that I would like to take with me to 2011. Looking for ways how I can unleash my excellence and get rid of mediocrity I turned to His Words, knowing that in God’s Words, I will find a wealth of information and guidelines to help me replace my own mediocrities with excellence.
The following prayers came to heart from Ephesians 3:14-20.
1. Praying for God’s strength: I kneel before You, O Almighty God. I pray that out of Your glorious riches, you may strengthen me with power through your Holy Spirit so that Christ may dwell in my heart.
2. Receiving God’s Power: I pray dear God, that I will continually be rooted and established in love, and to be clearly committed and in agreement to Your will, and believe that your love surpasses knowledge, that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of You, that your Holy Spirit will continually dwell within me.
3. Accepting God’s Purpose: God, You are the Power of all power. You are able to do far more abundantly that I ask or think, according to the power at work within me. Lord, I fully accept Your purpose for me. Just give me the Word, and I will obey You. To You be the glory forever, Amen!
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| Mediocrity to Excellence |
I believe that praying for God’s strength and power, and for His power to dwell in me, God’s Word is telling me that the Lord Christ is able to do in me and through me more than I can imagine. Allowing God to work through me, His work will shine forth. My flesh may be weak but the power of the Holy Spirit within me will shield me from the weaknesses of my flesh and strengthen my being according to God’s will because I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Rising above mediocrity in all aspects of my life is doable and can be accomplished through the backing of the Mighty God, and be transformed into a woman that God intended me to be.
1. What do I want to accomplish in 2011? Getting out of mediocrity and moving into excellence is to find out exactly what I want to accomplish in 2011 – in my life. Knowing what I want to accomplish, I will be able to tap into excellence and accomplish excellent results. Being clear with what I want, I will be able to do it with my full potential.
2. What is my plan to accomplish it? I will not just talk about what I want in my life, but I will develop a plan to accomplish it. Reflection and meditating on God’s word can lead to a well-established plan.
3. What is my action according to the plan? No lip-service but taking action. To create results is to take action. It is all right to talk about your plans and share them with others, but making sure that there are some movement of action that is taking place. One step at a time, leads to the end of the journey.
4. What is the result of my action? Am I producing the fruits of my labor? If I am not producing the desired results, it is best to change my approach and strategies. A heart of ‘never give up’ should be within me – being committed to keep on trying until I get the results.
5. What is my approach to learning? I need to keep on learning and find ways to improve at all times. By being consistent in my approach to learning and improving, I will be able to produce. Reading books and articles, networking with people in the same field as I am, brainstorming with colleagues will definitely help in the journey to excellence.
Choosing excellence takes effort. It means hard work and transforming ones mindset. An individual choosing excellence is willing to be taught, mentored, and coached. Excellence requires a person’s lifestyle to be in sync with the same goals and desired results. So if you are currently living a mediocre life, how do you change it? Are you willing to make a thorough inventory of all the mediocrities in your life? Are you willing to change? Are you going to rock your own boat? Do you have the power of the Holy Spirit within you to help you rock the boat? A successful child of God lives a life of excellence. Trample mediocrity. Rise to excellence. Glorify the Lord with your life. Live in excellence!
