Excellence

May God give us a passion for excellence

• Success means being the best - Excellence means being your best

• Success, to many, means being better than everyone else - Excellence means being better tomorrow than you were yesterday

• Success means exceeding the achievements of other people - Excellence means matching your practice with your potential

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Excellence is attainable in any area of life and character, it is found in the details of all that we are and all that we do. Excellence is built upon the seemingly small details of every day decisions.

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.

Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915) US educator, social reformer


In the discussion of excellence, we must be careful not to confuse excellence with perfection—they are entirely different.

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection,

Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.

Michael J. Fox

Perfection, fortunately, is not the only alternative to mediocrity.

A more sensible alternative is excellence.

Striving for excellence is stimulating and rewarding;

striving for perfection, in practically anything,

is both neurotic and futile.

Edwin Bliss

You can be born with talent that may lead to greatness, but people are rarely, if ever, born with excellence.  Excellence describes what we do with the talents, gifts and personality that we have been given.

Some people have greatness thrust upon them.

Very few have excellence thrust upon them.

John W. Gardner (1912 - 2002) US writer, government official

The reason for the truth in the quote above is that excellence must be worked into the gifts we have been given. We are not born with it, but excellence makes such a difference in our lives – more so than talent and gifting!

It breaks my heart to see men and women with excellent talent such as actors, professional sports personalities, politicians, artists, musicians, singers, etc. who negate or diminish their gifting because of poor life skills, appalling character and inexcusable behavior.

Real excellence and humility are not incompatible

On the contrary, they are twin sisters

Jean Baptiste Lacordaire

1 Cor. 2:1-2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Phil. 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

More on excellence: HERE