Defining Excellence

Well, we're now starting the second week of August, which means that this is the third real week for me in my new position as "Resource Manager" at GES. To say that it's been a transition switching from Math to management would be an understatement at best. There's no need to get into the nitty gritty here, so if you're really interested in that, fire me off an e-mail & I'll fill you in.

A general overview of my daily activities looks somewhat like this:

• Start the day at 7:15 by checking my e-mail, going through my messages & preparing the day's paperwork.


• 7:45, I head to the library to work on re-shelving books from the previous day (if any are left) & continue the ominous task of alphabetising the collection.


• 9:10 Kindergarten students arrive & usually sit around while being read to from their teacher. They're all condensed energy blobs, so any distraction will send them off on tangents—meaning that I usually sit there trying to help the teacher(s) avoid Armageddon. This lasts for an hour.


• The rest of my day is sprinkled with a couple half-hour sessions of library time with an elementary class, wherein they return books & I issue them new ones. I've discovered that it takes about 3 minutes to process each checked-in book from receiving it to placing it on the shelf.


• Also scattered through the day are one or two hour-long computers classes that I teach to Grades 7 - 12 students. It's a refreshing change of pace, but it eats away at my much needed library organisation time.


• At 3:40, when the rest of the staff is technically done their daily obligations, I'm ushered off to "homework help," where I assist elementary students in completing the homework assignments that their teachers have given them that day. It's actually quite fun. The little kids are great & they're always glad to see me / have me help them / play around after their homework is done. The downside, though, is that this usually lasts between 60-90 minutes after school, which means the precious little time that I could have to interact with my high school students has all but disappeared. It's hard for me; I really miss those kids. A lot.


• After my scheduled activities in the day, I spend my evenings getting the computer lab & the library up to snuff. These past few weeks have had me put in 15-16 hour days trying, with what often feels like futile efforts, to have some semblance of working / usable resources.

A Story

And this is where I begin my tale. Last year, I found myself pulling 14-15 hour days pretty much every day until January, when I realised that I had lost sight of my original goal(s) in light of trying to deliver on the expectations inherent in my job. I had laid aside sleep, laid aside human relationships & most tragically, I had laid aside my relationship with God. Bad news. It took me until my Christmas break last year to realise that what I was doing was wrong, wrong, wrong. This year, it has only taken me 2 weeks. I'm learning! Yay!

It has quickly become apparent to me that the position I am operating in here at GES has a multitude of responsibilities & a plethora of tasks needing attention. I told our administrator that it was essentially impossible for me to get all of these tasks completed by the end of the year unless there was an injection of additional manpower. To my surprise, she said that she didn't really expect me to accomplish all of the tasks associated with my position. She let me know that although the school desired (and perhaps even expected) me to accomplish the whole gambit of tasks placed upon my shoulders, for the most part, this deadlines for project completions were very much "for appearances only." She didn't use these words in our meeting, and at that time I didn't really understand what she was saying—instead, I felt that my requests for help & support were being ignored, and that the insurmountable pile of projects that lay before me would have to be tackled tout seul. Now, having had 5 days to digest the conversation, I've come to realise that she was saying that some of the school's expectations (and my own internal ones) were unreasonable. "So, would it be reasonable for me to only put in 10 hour days?" I asked. She replied, "It's reasonable for you to only put in eight hour days."


My Lesson

I've been reminded in the past few weeks that I am a person who strives for excellence in whatever I do. However, in the pursuit of excellence, I have forgotten over the past decade that it is impossible to be excellent at everything & in every situation. To be so essentially would require being God. There are only twenty four hours in a day, and there is only so much energy that one can expend. I can—no, I must—choose what thing I want to approach with excellence.

While a student in University, I spent all of my time trying to excel in my studies. This consumed my days & it consumed my life, leaving no real time or energy for anything other than pursuing Christ with my free time. It worked out. Mind you, my human relationships weren't all that I had desired them to be, but I felt justified in what I was doing, for I was pursuing excellence in my education—something that I had poured thousands of dollars into. Before going to University, I was a much more balanced person. In high school, I rarely—if ever—studied, and I chose, rather, to spend my time first pursuing Christ and then focussing on human relationships, with school being a distant third. I got by—mostly because high school was super easy for me, and I (literally) got >80% in my sleep. My university intensity made me forget how I used to be, and I forgot that there were other things beside what one did that one could pursue with excellence.

This is my realisation. With my limited human potential & my limited resources available in my body as it travels through space-time, I must choose what deserves excellence & what can be done sufficiently. At the beginning of this year, my goals for returning to GES were to pursue spiritual the edification & nurturing of myself, the staff & the students here on campus. This was my main priority, and as I take survey of my current perspective, I must admit that I've shoved it aside while I pursue excellence in my "day job." Turns out that I've lost sight of my goals, and given that I cannot do both (which is why I began pursuing excellence at my tasks, since I thought I could be excellent at everything I did), I must now choose.

Why am I here at GES? It's most surely not because I want to see a smoothly-running plant, well oiled & efficient. It'd be great if that happened, but that isn't why I signed up for another year. I came to feed into the lives of those around me; I came to develop, foster & encourage spiritual vitality & spiritual exuberance. I came to promote an environment of Spirit-filled Christ-centeredness—an environment that wasn't just self-supporting, but an environment that would be self-expanding. That's my goal and that is my desire. At the point of this message to all of you who read it, I've resolved to switch gears & to resume my original intent. I desire to pursue excellence in Christ & in Him over all other things, for in Him and through Him, all these things will be added sufficiently to me/us.

Please pray for me as I undergo this transition. There are other things that you also could pray for, but it all is summed up in praying for me & for the rest of the school to choose Christ as the ultimate motivation, the ultimate & primary focus for all of our energies. With fervency for this desire, the rest will fall into place. It must: He promised that it would.

Thanks for your prayers & support.

Daniel.

And now I will show you the most excellent way.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.

I Cor. 12:30-13:13 NIV