Excellent

“What’s the most excellent thing I can do today?”

I have that quote on my white board above my desk in my office. It is from a man who plays drums in a rock band that I’ve like for nearly all my life. It’s his “motto” for living.

I liked it so much, I wrote it down. And since it’s in a place I look at every day, I can say that I ask that question every day.

But asking the question is different than seeking the answer to it.

Below it, I recently wrote this question:

“More importantly, why should I do it?”

Again, asking the question is different than seeking the answer to it.

Recently I’ve found myself either too busy to really seek the answer to those two questions or distracted by other things to seek the answer to those two questions.

Today, I deliberately stopped the busyness and distractions to do both. I’m seeking the answer by writing about it – and that will become the devotion for this week’s “In My Father’s Footsteps.”

Even though I often don’t seek to answer the question, I do want to do something excellent each day. I do really want to make some kind of difference in this world.

And I do make a difference in that I’m the husband of a beautiful and loving woman. For going on 23 years she’s chosen to live with me – and that’s an excellent thing.

I’m the father of three sons. That’s an excellent thing.

I’m on the staff of a church that’s starting to realize that God has called them to do some excellent things in this world.

What’s the most excellent thing I can do today? Get out of bed. Breathe in and out. I understand that it sounds pretty simplistic and not at all extraordinary.

But what I mean by that is that the most excellent thing I can do today is, first, to be available to God’s calling.

God has a plan for me today. And God – being God – can only have excellent plans! I will begin my day by talking with God (prayer).

Secondly, I will do the things on my life list for this day in the most excellent way I can. I will not do them just to get them done. I will do them to the best of my ability, using the gifts God has given me.

“More importantly, why should I do it?”

There’s two parts to the answer to this question. The first part is “Why wouldn’t you want to do something excellently?” While the answer to that is not good, it is realistic. I’m lazy. I’m distracted. I’m busy. I’ve got so MUCH to do. Like I said, that isn’t a GOOD answer, but it is a real answer.

The second part is answered by looking at what Jesus Christ did. Everything Jesus did was excellent. Start with the creation of the universe. “And it was very good.” Then, from His birth to His life, to His death, to His resurrection, to His ascension – all that was done most excellently. He saved the entire world.

And now, through Baptism, that same excellent Christ lives in me! How can I NOT do an excellent thing this day?

God has called me to this time and place to do an excellent thing.

What is the most excellent thing I can do today?

How about you?