Weekly Words

 

Recently I was given a book entitled A Hand to Guide Me which is written and edited by Denzel Washington. I really admire Denzel. Not only because every woman on the planet, including my own wife, thinks he is breathtakingly good looking (and I’d like to know what that feels like), but also because I truly admire the grace of his character and the depth of his commitments and convictions. In his opening chapter, Washington writes some words that I think should give us pause for reflection. First he states, “We’re all destined to leave some kind of mark. I really believe that. We’re all meant to walk a certain path at a certain time in a certain direction for a certain purpose.” Later, while attempting to define success he writes, “It’s about what you’ve done with those accomplishments. It’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.”

Besides loving the profundity in the distinction between accomplishments and success, I lamented the fact that Washington’s comments really expose us for living with low expectations. I mean, how many of us are working on leaving a mark on the world? Some of us are struggling so hard, check to check and bill to bill, that keeping our head above water is the number one priority in our lives. Sure we go out for recreation from time to time, and we may even go to church Sunday to Sunday, but really all of our efforts and energies go toward maintaining. There are others of us who are consumed with achievement and so we steadily strive for accomplishment after accomplishment, degree after degree, promotion after promotion, and new endeavor after new endeavor. The rest of us are somewhere in the middle.

To be any one of these three is to live life with low expectations. Whether you struggle to identify what your mark can be, or you are too consumed with personal accomplishment to consider how you can give back, not living in your God given potential to be a blessing is to live with low expectations!!! You have been given a gift, a talent, a degree, a field of expertise, a skill, and/or a passion that, if channeled correctly, can make this world a better place. God can use you just as you are and with what you already have. Finding your mark in this life and meaning in your life is about you having the creativity and commitment to discover how God can use you. I challenge you to raise the expectations of yourself and for yourself so that you can leave the mark you’ve been created and built to make. And when we raise our expectations, we can become, in the words of Denzel, “ordinary folks, from ordinary beginnings, accomplishing extraordinary things.”

Humbly in Christ’s Love,
Pastor B.A. Jackson