He has given me a new song to sing,
 a hymn of praise to our God.
 Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
  They will put their trust in the Lord.  Psalm 40:3(NLT)

      I don’t know about you, but I spent much of my life chasing the world and the things therein.  As a young person, climbing the ladder of success in my realm was of utmost importance.  Just like my daddy before me, the work ethics that he had trickled down to me.  I admired and respected his determination to be a dedicated and faithful worker.  Don’t get me wrong now, that’s not a bad thing, but it was not and should have never been on the top of my list of priorities—or my dad’s. 

     However, when you are a child, your view of the world can be quite narrow.  You can only see from within the boundaries that you are placed or born into.  As a young person, my priority list should have looked more like this; with God himself first, then my family and lastly, my work.  Can you relate?  But here again, we are prisoners to our surroundings and it is quite difficult to break out of the pattern of “we’ve always done it this way,” to a more mature attitude.

     Many of us are born in and often choose to stay within the boundaries of ’mediocrity.’  That’s all we know.  However God has so much more in store for us if we will only choose to put Him first.   How do we do this, you might ask?  For starters we can begin by spending quality time with Him each day—Feeding on His word, meditating on Scripture and praying about everything—seeking His will and direction in all of our decisions, both small and large.

     It’s quiet time and daily Scripture reading that brings about these thoughts on my part.  And, I have to admit, conversations with my only son—who also grew up in mediocrity, yet is working at DIA  (Defense and Intelligence Agency) today in Washington, DC helps too.  As I told him yesterday, “Who would’ve ever thought that my little boy would grow up to become an Intelligence Analyst?” 

I guess the only thing that is more amazing is that I became an author! 

   It’s called moving beyond mediocrity and you can do it too!  Think about that!

   I take joy in doing your will, my God,
   for your instructions are written on my heart.”  Psalm 40:8