I think that every person should have a life-goal.  Not something obtainable like owning a home or making partner in a firm (although those things are good), but something to strive for.  I suppose goal is not the word, goals have an end result.  Maybe vision statement is a better term, I just don’t really like that wording, but oh well, it is probably the best fitting.  So people should have a “vision statement,” a phrase/idea/thought that sums up what they want to be.  Imagine a business without a vision statement…could it ever succeed?  Even worse: a ministry without a vision.  As someone who tracks better in the realm of ministry than business, this seems to translate better to me.  A ministry without a vision flounders; it’s staff has no idea what to work towards, its leaders don’t know what direction to turn next, and it’s people are confused, disconnected, and often times lost.  If you don’t know what you want to be, you will be nothing. 

I have been nothing.  I have been mundane, without purpose, and just going through the paces.  It sucks!  If you ever want to feel useless, pointless, and underwhelmed in life, avoid having a vision statement.  But if you want to live a life of fulfillment, one focused with a direction and blessible by God, figure out what God wants you to be and run straight to it!  God has purpose for all of us.  The obvious answer: to follow the Great Commission, which is true.  But more than that, I believe God has something huge for each individual.  I want to reach all that God has in store for me, and while I have no idea what that is, I know it is more than mediocre.  So to achieve it, reach it, and see it, I have to live a life that is more than mediocre.  That is my vision/life-goal, to be more than mediocre.  In everything I do: work, play, relationships, ministry, creativity, school, cooking, makeup, anything and everything I do, I want to be more than mediocre.

Mediocrity is lame.  I don’t really know how else to say it.  Mediocrity is defined by being “of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate.”  The thought of that grosses me out.  It is settling, boring, average, luke-warm.  God spits it out!  Who would ever want to be barely adequate?  I want everything I do to be defined as good, really good.  I think I’d even take bad over mediocre, I can point out the faults in bad, and then fix them.  But mediocre, scraping by, indifference, is not a life that honors God. 

Let’s talk about worship for a second.  Worship is a life style that honors God; life-style is everything that you do.  Worship used to often be found in the form of sacrifice.  Look back to Genesis when Cain and Abel are bringing their sacrifices to the alter.  One brings the first-born sheep, a pure and great sacrifice that God calls for and brings Him honor.  The other chooses to bring fruit salad.  Not the best sacrifice, it was mediocre.  The passage goes on to say that God showed favor on Abel for bringing the sheep.  Why would you not want favor from God?!  You would have to be nuts to settle for mediocrity in your sacrifice to the Living King and not welcome His favor.  Currently we don’t bring physical sacrifices to an alter, but we still worship, we worship with our lives and everything we do.  I don’t want my worship to God, my life and all that I do to be equivalent to fruit salad.  I want to give God my best, and since all that I do is for Him, I want all that I do to be more than mediocre. 

So what does that mean?  That means I try for all that I do to be my best, and if my best is mediocre, pushing past that and making it more than mediocre.  From the silly things like my makeup, to the major things, like my serving and ministry, I choose to strive to be more than mediocre.  I am not always successful, and I don’t think that I will ever fully achieve it, but I have a vision, and I am running full force to live a life…more than mediocre.