Hammer on Anvil '

"What do you think of someone who only does the bare minimum?"

...what you could put off to the day after tomorrow. A procrastinator's motto. Last month I was typing a post and my friend Jay was waiting on me so we could go eat/hang out. As I went back to edit something, he mentioned that there is a feature in which you can type the blog ahead of time and set the time for it to post. Without hesitation, I looked at him and said, "Every semester, in every class, I received a syllabus with the due dates for papers that I could begin working on whenever. Yet I still typed them the night before they were due."

Why is it that I did this (and continue to do so with other things)? For one, the sense of urgency gives me the motivation to stick with it and get it done quickly. True some of the quality is lessened in the mad rush to finish, but it still made the grade or wouldn't make much difference either way. This is where I get caught. Growing up I learned how to squeak by, how to do just enough. Should this be our aim?

Previously, I mentioned the Gains of Drudgery, the doing of unpleasant tasks/training in order to be able to compete well. Now I ask, should our goal be to do the minimum, to squeak by...or to pursue excellence? "Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord, and not for people..." Many might have expected I quote this (and I caught myself cringe when I started to) because it seems to be said so much. However, this is because it is necessary. What if instead of dismissing this verse, we actually tried to live and work with enthusiasm and excellence?

Brett