High Standards

Standards.  Everyone has them, but they’re not all the same for each person.  Even people who were raised in the same home can have different standards.  I have standards for the bread that I use to make sandwiches.  I’m not overly fond of the butts of the loaf of bread.  When talking to Bible Study Mama and Brother the other day, I discovered that they LOVE the butts of a loaf of bread.  We lived together for years, and I never noticed this.  I have standards for my coffee.  I’m not really a die-hard coffee drinker, so I take my coffee with lots of cream and sugar.  The lighter the coffee, the better.

You have standards, too.  Have you ever about how you set the standards in your everyday life?  Just today, in two completely different settings, I heard that we have to be mindful of how we set standards.  I told ya’ll that if I hear something twice, I consider it to be important.  Hearing it twice in the same day from two different people really makes me take note.

Sometimes, I base my standards on other people.  When Bible Study Brother and I work out together, his competitive mode kicks in.  We both enter our weight and ages into our individual treadmills.  This allows the machine to calculate our approximate calorie burn, and it also allows it to monitor our heart rate if we hold on to the bars.  Although my Fitbit tracks this information for me, I still enter it into the treadmill.  Why?  Because I know it will drive Bible Study Brother crazy.

See, I weigh a lot more than him.  Because I’m so much larger than he is, I burn more calories with less effort.  He doesn’t care about that.  He will exhaust himself at times trying to keep up with, or exceed, the number of calories that I’ve burned.  He’s using my numbers to set his standard.  And it wears him out.

I’m being reminded today that I need to be mindful of how I set the standard for my everyday living.  Ultimately, I don’t need to look to people to define what my life should entail.  God sets the standard for my life.  And I can’t know His standard if I don’t study His word.  I’m getting there, but it’s a process for me.  Although I know there is safety and security in following His plan for my life, I often struggle against His will.  I know that I’m not alone.  Let’s all be intentional about raising our standards.  #wepreach