After two years of fretting, struggling, praising, changing, and changing again, we arrived! We delivered every item on time, our first perfect day. Several times, we got close, three failures, even two, but never zero. Yesterday was a first. The team finally realized in tangible ways that pulling together could bring a tangible win. Secondly, as congratulations poured in from all over the corporation – Penang, Mumbai, Stamford, Tampa, New York, and senior managers in London – people began to realize just how many people have been pulling for us. Third, thoughts of how unfair the contest was at times only made the celebrations that much sweeter.
Early on, each of us worried about competing on a level playing field. We knew our standards were high. We also knew that others cut corners. While not wanting to whinge (English for whine), we did express our frustration as others compared our performance on a weekly basis. The accusations grew intense on all sides. A wise friend made an interesting observation.
“Your critical and condescending ways aren't going to improve your position there one bit.” (Romans 14.10)
We stopped, looked at ourselves, and focused on what we were trying to achieve and where we wanted to go. Ignoring others, observing differences without criticizing, became our norm.
Yesterday we celebrated as never before. As I left my kids dancing the night away, I carried with me the feelings of every parent when their kids accomplish the impossible. They accomplished something they may never fully appreciate, but I will always remember the day.
As I walked through the night, I wondered if this was just a glimpse into how God feels when one of his children, your or I for example, becomes his hands, feet, eyes, ears, and mouth in extending grace, mercy, and acceptance to another of his children.
Life is not fair most of the time. Spending time with God, focusing on the priorities we share and value, and living it out one day at a time, will give us perfect days. It may seem impossible, perfect odds for God.
