Friday, November 24, 2023

IS MEDIOCRITY OUR LOT IN LIFE?


     I always perceived myself as a relatively intelligent and popular student at Hiland High School in Berlin, Ohio. But the evidence proves otherwise.
     My grade cards show that I was just an above-average student at best. And, pictures from my junior year 1971 yearbook confirmed my mediocrity in high school. 
  • I was never on the Scholarship Team
  • I was never on the National Honor Society
  • I was never on the Student Council
  • I never even tried to be one of the staff members to publish the popular Hilander school newspaper.
     You will see in all the pictures that I was conspicuously absent. (Note: I was glad to see my brother Merv in a couple of the pictures, like on the Student Council. Sadly, several people in the pictures have passed away for various reasons. James Miller as some of you know, was murdered.)
     I got some notoriety from playing sports. You can see from my Hiland High School letter jacket, which is now way too small for me that I lettered 5 times in three varsity sports.
  • One year in Baseball
  • Two years in Cross Country.
  • Two years in Basketball.
  • I received the Most Improved Basketball Player trophy my senior year.
     But, despite some modicum of success, all my teams followed the same path toward mediocrity. So, sports wasn’t something I could hang my hat on as a great accomplishment.
     There are many of us for which mediocrity has been our lot. We may be good at some things—but aren’t elite at any one thing. We may have a degree of popularity, but people don’t flock around us as they do others.
     So, what can we do with our mediocrity? I think there is only one answer. It happened to me 46 years ago in 1977, five years after high school. It happened to Jesus’ disciples, most of whom were unlearned tradesmen, like fishermen or tax collectors.
     Jesus didn’t choose an elite group of achievers to be part of His Inner Circle. What happened is that God by His Holy Spirit called His disciples. In the same way, He calls us, to follow Him.
     Our main goal, as was the goal of the disciples, is not to gain glory or status for ourselves.
     Our main goal is to gain glory for God and His Son Jesus, who died on the cross to free us from our sins. God then by His great power can, if we let Him, fade our insecurities and feelings of mediocrity.

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