“If your presence doesn’t make an impact, your absence won’t make a difference.” -Vincent “Vince” Lombardi

Every year, when my daughter starts school, I look for motivational quotes to write on her pencil box, planner or accordion file. For example, last year’s “It’s not how good you are that is important; it’s how good you want to be” was replaced with this year’s “Perfection is not attainable; but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence”-Vince Lombardi. I am not sure who said the first quote, but the second was spoken by a legendary and iconic coach who masterfully motivated his players to be “in it to win it” (source unknown;-)).

In my search, I came across the aforementioned quote, “If your presence doesn’t make an impact, your absence won’t make a difference” and thought, am I making an impact? In church the last three weeks, the theme has been titled “Like a Boss”. The pastor spoke of how our culture has gotten away from the idea of work being a good thing. He went as far as to quote a Gallup poll that was quite startling. He said, as recently as 2012, those polled here in the U.S. that were 18 and over and in the work force were either a.) 29% engaged, b.) 54% disengaged, or c.) 18% ACTIVELY DISENGAGED, meaning those actively disengaged actually work toward the demise of the company who employs them! What is the root of this malaise?

My pastor went on to quote Scripture regarding mankind’s responsibility to work. The pastor said to work “like a boss”…at EVERYTHING you do… including resting on the Sabbath. His list included marriage, parenting, employment, employing, studying, cooking, serving others, et al. His messages the past three weeks have truly resonated with me. In my own journey of the Bible, through the book of Proverbs and now into Ecclesiastes, I feel like I have had an epiphany! It is ALL ABOUT WORK! God’s Word is directing us to work “LIKE A BOSS”! It is up to us to choose to do our very best in all things. We must be intentional in our life here on earth. Amazingly, I feel that the tasks that I have formerly found to be repetitious and mundane have somehow become less tedious or wearisome. I am consciously looking at ironing uniforms (yes, I really do iron), making breakfast, and packing lunch through a completely different lens. What a difference it makes!

As my daughter’s crazy schedule is now in full swing, it is easy to get caught up in feeling like I am on a hamster wheel as I drive the same routes over and over to school, swimming, voice, piano, dance, and a plethora of other activities in which she participates. Obviously, Vince Lombardi is not with us any more, but his legacy and passion for pursuit of excellence is still very present and is oft-quoted to motivate us to our highest level of performance. I now realize it is all up to me to motivate myself! I am hoping to be more deliberate in living my life like a boss so that I leave an impactful example and legacy for my daughter to follow. I wonder how my husband is going to like it when I tell him, “Honey, there’s a new boss in town.”;-)