PASSION FOR LIFE

How do you build a culture of excellence? It takes passion for beauty. An appreciation of work at its finest. The pressure to give your best for the sake of excellence. How do we encourage a people to behave in such a way? One is to have a group that makes excellence their way of life. This group strengthens itself, models to others, and the behavior catches fire. Excellence of a leader exudes and it catches on to his members. Excellence is the refusal to take on mediocrity as a way of life. Excellence seeks out a "give-all" attitude. Excellence is strongly linked with clear vision. A culture of excellence is built when the atmosphere for passion is established. It can come in the form of a dignified and creative workplace that emits energy to fuel your work. It can come from a model leader who talks with conviction and walks his talk more than anyone else. A Culture of excellence does not consider mistakes as failures, but a learning step to become the best in one's field.

I experienced losing sight of my 2 year old son, Sev, for about 15 minutes. It was the longest 15 minutes of my life. We were in a mall filled with people and there were lots of other kids. I was called out by one of the salespeople because I accidentally left something. It was only for three seconds that looked away from my boy, then he was already gone! I started telling myself, 'okay don't panic he's just here somewhere.' I then started to ask other people if they have seen an adventurous little boy wearing an orange shirt with curly hair. I searched high and low, front and back, going to every nook and cranny of the sections of the department store. My heart started pumping fast and my imagination was running wild. I was desperate! Until a comforting message came upon me from one of my friends in community who crossed my path. He said,'don't worry your wife already found him.' Suddenly all the panic and pressure was gone. What a relief!

What or who do we hold dear in our lives? What or who can't we live without for more than a minute? There are many things we deem important; our degrees, career, possessions, knowledge, connections, and wealth. These are seemingly important things we value in our life. These things though, are replaceable and temporary. What should matter are the things that last. These are our friends, family and most specially our faith. Friends who enrich our lives, family whom we love dearly, and our faith that gives meaning to our existence. These are lasting and most important. It is sad to know that many people are willing to loose them, not for a minute, but even for years. Some even go through life without the slightest effort to embrace these 3 f's.

May we be alarmed when we lose sight of our friends, family, and our faith. May we search for them with much urgency and desperation, until we are reunited and embraced by these precious gifts from God.