Giving our best

In the last week I've had two instances where there was talk about giving the best. The first talk was at work. Each year around October the employees take a survey to see how our managers are doing. It's called the Q12 because there are 12 major questions that comprise the survey - each dealing with a specific aspect of life in the workplace. Then, around this time of the year, once all the results are in and upper management's talked to lower management, the location management talks to the staff. At that meeting, the management asks the staff to think of some areas the whole location would like to work on as a team - this is good as it should build unit cohesion and morale. Usually, that's the case.

Then there are the times when half of the staff is not yet in their mid 20's and hasn't really learned what work in the real world is all about. Half of them are still worried about fashion and what Vogue, Cosmo and whatever Access Hollywood says is the latest thing to do or wear. One or two of the younger ones might be hitting that wall that causes a slight bit of maturity, but then they pick themselves up and go on with the approved mediocrity. I do think that it's a said commentary when a work group feels that not everyone is committed to the same idea of what excellent service is. Not feeling that your coworker has the same commitment level to the job as you do is not healthy for morale. Nor is it good for customer service - especially when your job is nothing but customer service, not to mention dealing with the customer's (usually) most prized commodity of cash. In the service industry, the high up muckity mucks set a certain standard that is called a base line. That is the lowest, median expected level that should be reached by all members of the company. That is how manager are able to give performance reviews - by measuring the employee's record to the standard. You are either above or below. But the customers never see the mid line, they don't know what the corporate has set the standard at - their standard is always higher.

You would think after receiving consistent feedback that the service is not only below that which the customer expects (you can almost never fully meet the customer's expectations, they're usually set about 2 steps higher than the norm) but what the company has set at a minimum, that the employees (the ones with the ground level responsibility for meeting said standards) would learn. Not with our current up and coming generations - that would be to say the younger half of my own (of which I'm toward the later years simply because of age, not because of maturity) and subsequent ones. No, they can't be given constructive criticism and be expected to grow from it. They expect you to take them by the hand and lead them gently and in a coddling manner to the next step, always praising them whether they did it right or royally biffed it. And we wonder why so few of the youth of our days lack any semblance of commitment and self sacrifice. They expect to be praised even when they're not doing the right thing! Is that giving our best?

The next foray into the concept of giving the best we have came this Sunday at my church. The pastor was preaching, fittingly on Palm Sunday, about songs of praise. Here we see a image painted of that mid morning near Jerusalem, as Christ sits upon the colt, gently riding into town. As He nears His disciples and the unready crowds recognize who He is - the King returning to His kingdom! They start to shout and praise, loud cries of "Hosanna! Hosanna!" ring out and talks of the "one who comes in the name of the Lord" are belted from the deep voices of men lining the way, casting down palm branches and even their own cloaks before the humble man sitting on a unbroken donkey. Knowledge of who the man is, and all that He has done spreads like wildfire and reaches the ears of the religious rulers, who come to Him quickly and demand that He silence His followers. To this He simply replies "If they become silent, then even the very rocks will cry out!" What a simple statement. As if to say, if we do not give our all, our best, then the rocks will cry out in our place. What a shame to be bested by an inanimate object?

In the Psalms, we are exhorted many times to "Sing to the Lord" and "Praise the Lord, O my soul" and "Shout to the Lord." In Psalms 150 we are given the command to "Praise the Lord" and several methods with which to accomplish this command. But in Psalm 15, we are also cautioned to "Play skillfully before the Lord." We are cautioned to bring our best - our all - to Him in praise and adoration. Could we do any less? To bring anything less than the absolute best of who we are and what we have is an insult. Do you give your team members on a sports team any less that that? What of your family? What do those things mean to you - what are they worth to you? Is there any reason to bring less than the cream of the crop, the unblemished animal, the best of what you have to offer?

In teaching a beginner brass class at my church, I had my students write down what they thought it meant to them to bring their best. Having been a musician for nearly 20 years myself, I have an idea of what that means to me. I play music for one reason only, to give glory to the one who gave me the ability to make music in the first place. But in order for my performance of that to be worth anything, I must give my all - bring the absolute best I can. Not to play skillfully before a large audience of men, but to play soul-fully before the audience of one.

Does everyone have the ability to make music? No. But we all play our own song in our own way, and so I have but one question to ask, both for me and for you. Do you seek to play with your everything the best you can before the audience of One?

Blessings,