And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men Colossians 3:23
It is easy to fall into frustration when we observe the half-hearted habits of others that seem to go unnoticed or unchecked. As much as you try to perform at a high level, a spirit comes in that nags us with the question, why am I trying to raise my standard when others seem to be satisfied with doing just enough. But the scripture reminds us that looking horizontally at man’s habits will deflate us while lifting our eyes to the heavenly throne will cause us to run the race with patience and a mind toward mastery.
My prayer for you today is that you will have the conviction to stop cutting corners wherever you may find yourself doing so in the course of your daily practice. It is my prayer for you that you will have the courage to confront those you find cutting corners. For cutting corners curtails our capacity to provide exceptional customer service and excellence in care. If you must, stop a moment, step away for a minute, steal away, take a break, catch your breath. Then return to the task with renewed tenacity and attention to detail.
While you may experience conflict within and with others as we answer the call of accountability and raise our work and our practice to a higher level, at some point we must come to the place where we say to ourselves individually and collectively enough is enough. We can no longer accept low aim, low vision, and low performance. Along the way you will find yourself in moments where change is voluntary. But at some point situations reach a critical mass where change is no longer voluntary and it becomes mandatory. So I pray again for you and for myself, that you will find the conviction and courage to flesh out, flush out, root out and run out those who find cutting corners convenient and raise the same challenge within yourself as we consider who we are, whose we are, and who we are really living and working for.