The Charge to Be Exceptional

     Today was the first day in a month that we were able to go to church and get back to a "more normal" schedule. The first two weeks of last month, church was cancelled due to weather and the last two weeks were just so busy we told ourselves we were unable to give that time up. Regardless, we went in today with a renewed want to be there, which I admit, had been missing for me for a few weeks.

     Today's sermon was aimed at the men (with a sermon directed towards women coming next week) in the congregation and how they should be exceptional. This word comes to me with some difficulty because I think to identify yourself as "exceptional" then you lose a little bit of your humility. Humility is a virtue I try to implement; I maybe get away from my pride 50% of the time. This sermon struck home with me as the preacher talked about what makes up an exceptional man in our faith. Those things were:

1. Having faith
2. Expressing Love
3. Being Humble
4. Accepting Responsibility

     I would be lying if I said I could do any of these well or even consistently; and maybe that's the point to the sermon. I have struggled with my faith, I've been stubborn with my expressions of love, and all of these things lend themselves to my pride. As I absorbed the message, I thought about the different roles I maintain in my life; husband, dad, teacher, coach, friend, and I realized where some of my strengths were and what my highlighted weaknesses really are.

     If I had to pick one of the four, I would have to say that my ability to express love to others is my strength. I feel like that is the one thing I grew with as I went through the various stages of life. My family is able to express love, my wife and child are unafraid to express love, and I have been able to do that in both my personal and professional life. Let's face it, the high schoolers I work with need love almost more than anything else, and it's a base part to my job to be able to do that.

     But what about my weaknesses? Having faith, accepting responsibility, and being humble are the three on the list that I struggle with. As far as my faith goes, I know what I believe and that I believe in something real. The question I found myself asking is, "Am I consistently faithful to my faith?" and I am not proud to admit that the answer is no. Sometimes I subscribe to the "Santa" version of Christianity where I ask for something and I hope that I receive it. Other times, in the season of my life, I have been able to grow in my faith and understand that growing doesn't necessarily mean "getting" something tangible in return.

     I believe that the other two, accepting responsibility and being humble, are things that we all struggle with because these are almost essential to our more primal sense of survival. Pride keeps us from appearing weak in front of others and being able to point the finger at others keeps us from being the target of scorn or ridicule. However, these are virtues that we may work on along our journey to becoming exceptional.

     If we work on becoming exceptional, not as faith based servants, but just as people, we may be able to work together a little better and empathize a little more with those around us. In this culture of finger pointing and jumping to conclusions, we might be able to use a little bit more training on accepting responsibility and maintaining our humility. If we come into each day with the goal of making our world a little better, or just in conquering those huge mountains ahead of us, we may start our trek to being exceptional. It's not all about faith, it's about humanity.

     I wish that my students could see that working towards exceptional doesn't have to be a complete one-day character rebuild--instead, it's a step by step journey that takes days, months, or years. I hope that my son sees me working towards being exceptional-as a father, husband, and as a man of faith. Each day I have to make a decision on whether or not I will try my best to be exceptional; and if I fail, then I get the privilege of trying again the next day.

     Last week was a hard week for me professionally; I did NOT have the patience in me to work with anybody, teenager or adult. I don't know what set it off, but I was in no way exceptional last week. So, with this being a Sunday night, I will wake up tomorrow morning and take my first steps toward becoming exceptional. Being exceptional doesn't mean being perfect, because we cannot achieve perfection. Instead, being exceptional may mean working on those 4 (or 3) things listed above, and trying your best to just be a good human.

     Exceptional is something we can work towards-perfection is an impossibility. It's our job to work towards exceptional without fearing failure. Failure is how we grow.

     If we're not failing, then we're not trying anything new.

Best,