Living the mediocare life

Our society thrives on the mediocre. Everywhere I go, I deal with people who put in less than their best, and are proud of the lack of effort they put into their work. They put in minimal effort and brag about it. Next time you attend your church potluck, check out the number of take out containers and pizza boxes! Women used to be proud to bring their very best to the church potluck. They put thought and time into blessing the people that they were going to be eating with. Today, the attitude is, look at me. I am soooo busy you are lucky I stopped by Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up this bucket of greasy chicken for you! Being over scheduled in our culture is the sign of a "successful" person but being over scheduled means that you can not give your best to any of the activities that you participate in. People cut their time so close that they are always running late. Never mind that someone else was depending on you to show up on time to do a job or that your running behind, far from being cute was a major inconvenience to the person you had committed to. All the cutesy excuses from spilling your coffee to a rough morning with the children do not make it right. We have really crossed a line when our expectations for others behavior is the mediocre. We plan our church service so that the greeters miss the first fifteen minutes of worship because most of the church arrives late.

I volunteered to make sugar cookies and provide the frosting and decorations for our Sunday school classes to frost and decorate and then donate to a homeless shelter for woman and children. I spent three days working on baking all of the cookies and whipping up frosting. The reaction I received when I unloaded all of the goodies for the children to work on varied from shock to irritation. Every one of the moms asked if the cookies and frosting were home made. It took me the better part of the morning to figure out that the alternative was Pillsbury cookies that pop out of a tube and store bought frosting. I had not considered that as an option because I knew that the woman and children who would be receiving these cookies deserved the best I had to give them. They did not deserve low quality. They deserved quality.

I recently discovered an area of mediocrity in my own life. I am in charge of the care of my home and I found myself doing the minimum. No one really cares if I vacuum the stairs everyday. In fact, I would think no one notices one way or the other. No one notices if I wash the sheets every two weeks instead of every week. I can have lots more free time for myself if I short change some of these "unimportant" areas. The reality is that they are not unimportant. Its my job and I am called to do it well, not half well. I am a representative of Christ. He did not give the mediocre for me. He does not expect the mediocre from me. He wants the best from me and for me. He loves the people around us and he expects us to give His best to them. The church at Laodicea had the same problem. They were mediocre too. Jesus addresses them in Revelation 3. These good church people had works but they were done half way. Laziness and pride had become their lifestyle and it made them neither hot nor cold. "Mediocrity takes the things around us and transforms them into apparently beautiful things. And we become zealous for that deceptive beauty. A lot of times, we see what we want to see and hence become self deceived to the true situation."
http://www.the-churchofchrist.com/apathy/zealous_mediocrity.htm