Dear Friends,
I still remember the words written
after my picture in our senior high school yearbook. "Our Tom tries to do
the best at whatever he does." Sadly, those words have not always been
true.
Those of you who receive these Leadership Thoughts know that
sometimes there are spelling and grammatical errors, and sometimes you have
discovered that the paragraphs are not always properly aligned. I shudder when
I discover these mistakes after I have hit the send button. Believe me, it is
an awful feeling to realize my communication mistakes, which are many, after
sending out something for all to see.
Sometimes I can attribute my mistakes to haste, as I always
try to send out these Leadership Thoughts in a timely fashion. Occasionally the
pressure of another early morning commitment causes me to hurry, resulting in
producing something that to my chagrin is sent out without being thoroughly
reviewed.
I still laugh at the message I recently sent to my children
on a recent trip south with my little dog Maggie. I stopped overnight at a
Motel Six, and somehow my big fingers on a little I phone keyboard produced a
message that still haunts me. I meant to type "Maggie and I are having a
wonderful stay at Motel Six," but somehow, I managed to exchange and 'i'
for an 'e' in the Six, and suddenly my message went viral!
To put it frankly, I am extremely
limited in my computer skills and often accidentally hitting the wrong key may suddenly cause an
inadvertent change that I have no idea how to correct. I often find,
however, that if I randomly strike enough keys, I am able to rectify what I accidentally produced without ever
discovering how I accomplished it.
I know some of you reading this may
be a part of "The Greatest Generation," so I know you
understand what I'm talking about, for you probably have a few embarrassing
stories to share resulting from your computer liabilities.
All of this is to say I am far from
the writer I would like to be, and I simply ask for your indulgence when
you receive something that causes you to scratch your head and wonder how someone
could make such a mistake.
All of this reminded me of two verses of scripture I often
affix after my name in closing my letters.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as
working for the Lord, not for man, since you know that you will receive an
inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are
serving." (Colossians 3:23-24)
Ugh! It pains me whenever I realize I have violated this
exhortation from our brother, Paul.
I say to myself I want to do my best, but I realize I often
fall short of doing or giving my best. Sometimes it is carelessness and
sometimes it is just plain laziness that results in my giving or doing less
than my best.
In his autobiography, Why Not the Best?, President
Jimmy Carter tells about an interview he had with Navy Admiral Hyman
Rickover.
The Admiral asked him how he had stood in the class at the
Naval Academy.
"I swelled my chest with pride
and answered, 'Sir, I stood 59th in a class of 320.'"
"I sat back to wait for the congratulations, but
instead came the question, 'Did you do your best?'"
"I started to say, 'Yes, sir,' but I remembered who
this was. I gulped and admitted, 'No, Sir, I didn't always do my
best.'"
"He looked at me for a long time, and then asked one
final question, which I have never been able to forget, or to answer. He said,
'Why not?'"
Every one of us who are followers of Jesus should strive to
produce excellence in everything we do.
We should never have reason to be ashamed of that which we
offer to Him.
Today, and every day, I hope I can always be counted on to
give my best at whatever I do, and that includes trying to send out a
mistake free Leadership Thought.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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