During a recent trip to New Orleans for Thanksgiving, I stumbled upon some of my old report cards from high school. I was quite surprised to see how poorly I had performed in the beginning. After reviewing more of the report cards, I noticed that my performance started to improve towards the end. I struggled to wonder why that was the case, and all I could conclude was that I tried to work harder simply to improve my chances of being accepted into college.
Later in the day, I came across a second grade report card (circa 1993). I wasn’t surprised by my grades in each subject because I knew I had performed really well academically during that period of my life. However, what caught me off guard was my consistently poor grade in effort. I realized that I had received a ‘C’ in every subject. To add insult to injury, Mrs. Brown wrote in the comments section, “Tonye is doing excellent work, but often he needs to be urged.” Ouch! This wasn’t how I remembered elementary school at all.
As I thought about my previous performance, I heard God say something interesting. He told me that this has always been my character. I’ve consistently gone through life only giving half of my effort in everything. I thought back over my life and found this revelation to be painfully true. All I could think was, “What if I had given my all every step of the way?”
Well I can’t change the past, but I can promise myself and God that I will give every ounce of energy left in my body to His purpose for my life. What do I have to lose? What do you have to lose? Let’s give it all we have. Who knows – we just may change the world!
Wow— “…in all they getting, get an understanding” thus making you responsible for what you now “KnOw”! What a simple observation that led to such a change of life’s pace…..