It is said that Thomas Edison tried over a thousand times to invent the lightbulb. After 900 failed attempts, a ‘friend’ suggested to Edison that he should accept failure. ‘No‘ said Edison. ‘I’ve just been successful in finding 900 different ways how not to make a lightbulb.‘ Shortly after that, he invented the lightbulb.
While a mediocre mindset sees failure as the end, excellence views it as the beginning – an opportunity to learn some more. The latter understands that perfection is a mere delusion, at least as far as fallen humanity is concerned. Moreover, God is NOT searching for perfection. If this were the case, we’d all be in very serious trouble. Actually, He’s looking for people who will embark on an imperfect pilgrimage, trusting His ultimate goodness in a world that can feel harsh and uncaring. That’s why it takes real faith to believe in God’s hope, especially when things can seem pretty hopeless at times.
The paradox of mediocrity is that it sees itself as the perfect standard by which everything else should be judged. It imposes strict limitations and then contemptuously sneers at anyone who dares to rise above it’s self made ceiling. At the core of its thinking is a kind of prideful pessimism which believes people should accept the perfection of average, dismissing anything higher as pompous and arrogant.
The reality of excellence is very different. By contrast, it recognises that it is not the same as perfection and never pretends to be so. Furthermore, to pursue excellence in life takes great humility, profound selflessness and outstanding courage. You see, this journey is about far more than ourselves. It’s about the future. It’s about living for something that is bigger than us. It’s about helping a new generation rise higher and go further than we ever did. What a travesty not to give them a better chance. Sadly, that’s exactly what the perfectly average thinking of mediocrity does. It holds people down.
In your life, never insult God with small thinking. ‘He is able to do more than we could ever ask, think or imagine‘ (Eph 3:20). No, we’ll never be perfect, at least while we live on this earth. So it’s better to live an imperfectly excellent life than one which is perfectly average.
Don’t compromise. Be a bit cheeky and dare to aim high. Whatever happens, never stop believing God…ever.
