Mediocrity

Before I start, this week my students have their ITBS assessments so if you could send some prayers and positive thoughts their way, we would really appreciate it!

The longer I have been down here, the more I have noticed a change in myself.   I am aware that is supposed to happen but I guess I am just more aware of it personally instead of others having to point it out to me.  These past few days I have spent a lot of time at the beach and with different friends.  I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time with a friend from ESU on Friday and Saturday who has been nannying all week down here.  She transferred to a different college in Kansas and we were able to have a good conversation about the relationships that lasted despite the distance.  As we had this conversation, we both noticed how often people were content with settling for mediocrity.  She knew that she was not going to grow in the way she wanted to at ESU so she transferred and that has definitely been the best decision for her.  She was asking me questions about being down here for the year and I told her it all went back to a conference that I went to in Orlando where the theme was, "Made for More."  Ever since that conversation, I have been stuck on that theme that led me down here.

At that point in my life, I was very unsettled even though life was good.  I thought that God was calling me to do something greater, that it was time for me to stop settling for easy.  As I've been on the beach this weekend, I would go back and forth about how easy life would be if I could just lay on the beach all day.  Life would be so simple if all I had to do was listen to the waves and get a tan but where would the fun and challenge be in that? I think I've always known that I enjoy a challenge, even though it's hard.  That's part of the reason I wanted to leave is because I knew that I needed a challenge; it was time to stretch myself and not settle like I do often times.  As I finished walking on the beach today, I started thinking about how much more enriching life would be if no one settled and everyone truly challenged themselves.  I would rather know that I had tried and failed at something than never try at all.  God did not create us for mediocrity.  He made us to do great things.  John 10:10, the verse that my conference in Orlando revolved around, tells us, "I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest." We were made for greatness!

As I start to think about the future, I have started to make new goals and dreams for myself.  I don't want this year to be the extent of my effort to do something great.  There is too much left to do in this world to stop trying now.  There's this quote from The Lorax on Pinterest that says, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not."