Good morning, Tribe! It’s Friday!

The Winter Olympics are underway and in their respective sports, we will find out who will win gold. Relative to the entire world of competitive athletes, who is the best? Who will stand on the elevated platform while their accomplishment is recognized? The well-deserved limelight includes high-definition television coverage after years of dieting, training and practicing to reach the pinnacle of their sport.

This time, in the sequence of the games, serves as a reminder for me that, in a much dimmer light on a much smaller scale, each of us regular Joes and Janes are inspired to be our best every day.

What do we do to be the best human, person, husband, father, brother, or son?
Or the best employee, leader, manager follower, contributor, or mentor?

Is it a restrictive diet, intense training, and unparalleled sacrifice?
Maybe…

•We know from years of medical research that the health of “the gut” is the single most critical factor in a person’s health

EAT WELL

•Intense training, modified for “regulars”, as in 30 minutes of cardio exercise 5 days a week, like it’s your job, is recommended for improved physical health

EXERCISE

•Sacrifice…giving it your all. Staying so focused on one goal that nothing else matters. Sounds appealing in an obsessive-compulsive kind of way.

I think this is where I tripped up…
I’m highly motivated to be my very best but was so confident that by working harder, traveling more, carving a niche and making the toughest decisions others avoided…that I’d be rewarded with my own gold medal (whatever that meant at the time).

I was wrong.

Masked as being a high-functioning provider, I hid behind the excuse that work needed me more than family. Turns out the best employee is rarely the best husband, father, brother, son or human being.

I must have been working when they taught the balance lesson – or maybe I thought I knew better and just woke up too late.

MODERATION

So what makes us “best”?

God made us all and he expects that we treat the vessel of our soul well while we’re here on earth and that we reach our full potential-to be the best version of ourselves every single day.

HUMILITY

I think the fruits of the spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22  are also worth mentioning to help us to be our very best:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness

Have a blessed weekend!