Greatness

In yesterday's sermon the preacher was talking about Jesus calling Peter and Andrew while they were fishing - calling them to come and follow Him. And they immediately stopped what they were doing and followed. God called them to be His disciples, to a life of greatness. And He calls you and me to greatness. After all, according to the preacher, He didn't say "Come and follow me and live a life of...mediocrity!" I love that. :) I want to live a life of greatness! Now, let's see. How do I go about that? The preacher didn't exactly tell us that...and I'm sure that was on purpose. If he told us that we would be limited and not see what it is God is calling us for. Because we're all different and He calls us all to something different.



Now let's just think about this. A life of greatness. Ok, I'm thinking. Thinking. Exactly what am I great at? What exactly is it that I'm supposed to be so good at? When I think of greatness I think of Da Vinci, Mozart, Mona Lisa - oh no, she was in the painting...she wasn't the artist. But you get what I mean.



I'm a quilter. I make nice quilts. Not great quilts. All my seams aren't 1/4". All my points aren't exact. In fact, don't tell anyone, but some of them float. And some of them get cut off. Nice, not great.



I love to embroider and I do good work. But not great work. I've seen great embroidery and that's not me. Some of my stitches are small, but I'm not consistent. My French knots, well let's just say that sometimes they knot way before they're supposed to, or way after.



Cooking, now there's a subject I could get into. Not! You've already seen my burned beans so you know the truth of that.



Here's what I've decided - my definition of great. Greatness isn't about a product, unless it's children. That's a whole other story. Greatness is about who you are. I think greatness is about loving someone in one of your groups when no one else even likes them, and it's about compassion for the person who does the same bad thing over and over and over again because they just can't seem to stop. I think greatness is about being sincere with people, not two faced and it's a willingness to help when someone's yard needs to be mowed or their child babysat or their prescription picked up. Or their jokes laughed at. Greatness is listening to the same old story time and again from the old gentleman next door, even when you desperately need to go sweep your kitchen floor. Greatness has a generous heart, giving because you want the receiver to know you care and not because you expect something in return. Greatness means visiting someone who's sick and not worrying about what germs you might pick up. Greatness is standing up for what is right and true and ethical even when others around you won't.



I wish I could say I do all those things, but I don't. I have all the typical human flaws and some of them in abundence. I don't think I'm ever gonna' make it to great but I do think I can make this life a wonderful journey with that as my goal.



What's your definition of greatness? I'd really like to know. I think there are a lot of things I need to add to my list.