Missin' the mark

I hate being late.  When I am late; I panic, get uneasy, feel terrible for making someone late, feel like things will not go as planned…etc. Some of my friends know that I love to keep time and that I dislike it when they are late. I have had moments when I’ve been late and they’ve made comments like, “Delia, you’re late. You’re never late…what happened….what happened this time….eh! You’re late, that’s unlike you….etc”

Usually one of my first inner reactions has been something like, “Ok, you are usually late and I am late just this once and it feels like the world has come to a stop. It’s just this once! Relax!”

This probably happens to us in different ways. Maybe you never forget people’s birthdays but the one day that you do….it’s like all the times you remembered don’t count anymore. Maybe you are always happy, smiley and full spirited, and the one the day you are not so jolly it’s a big deal. Maybe you always take out the rubbish…always and the one day that you don’t, everyone is asking….they noticed that but have never noticed that you are always taking out the rubbish. I like to think of the ladies that clean our streets. Every day, you’ll drive/walk by on a clean street and not think much about it. But the one day you find it dirty, you’ll ask who is responsible, where is KCCA etc.

Well, it could be anything…something you do so diligently and consistently.

Let’s look at this way; yes, maybe people shouldn’t wait for you to do it wrong in order to recognize the good you’ve been doing (sometimes they don’t recognize a thing) but also something else happens…  missing the mark - having fallen below the standard … fallen short.

At some point this year I realized how it wasn’t only about me usually being on time but about maintaining ‘the standard.’  Whenever I am late, I have fallen below the line, fallen below the standard – missed the mark. It doesn’t matter whether I have been on time a million times coz at that particular time I have been found wanting. I have been caught at a moment of ‘below standard.’

James 2:10 – ‘For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all’ made sense in a new light.

When one steals a pencil, the other a goat and the other 100million shillings, one thing they all have in common is missing the mark – falling below standard. They all fall short coz theft is theft. When one is 1 minute late and the other 30 minutes late, the two are late. Well, the first person nearly made it…but fact is nearly is not making it. Nearly in this case is the same as late.

It’s not about the fact that others are usually late or never start on time, it’s not about it being a company culture of sorts to pinch company money for personal use – not even because you feel you deserve more, it’s not about everyone throws rubbish by the road side, it’s not about how I always tidy up and people mess it up again, it’s not about how doing the wrong thing or doing it my way is so much sweeter and fun…it’s about the God standard. I remember when I came to this realization I thought to myself, “wait a minute Lord this kind of standard is way too high!” Yes, the Lords standard is high but He has also given us all we need to live by His standard. He is willing to help us only if we are willing to surrender and obey.

Many times it is because we make ‘small/tiny’ allowances that our values and good habits are broken. If I keep telling myself that I can be late just this once coz Sara never makes it on time or because I just don’t feel like it, I’ll do it once, do it another time and before I know it I’ll be a chronically sick in terms of time management. Casting Crowns sings it’s a slow fade… people never crumble in a day.

I pray that as we step into the New Year, that you and I will focus on living by God’s standard. That we won’t be too comfortable with the seemingly small things that we let pass but that we will be full of a desire to live by His standard and to work towards never being found below line. And when He appears, we won’t be found nearly on time but on time.

“It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away. It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to grey. Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid when you give yourself away. People never crumble in a day.” – Casting Crowns

Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year.