Lee Smith, ND

“Come Expecting.” It’s Not About This.

A Common Theme: Expectation.

It’s not unusual for annual business meetings, conventions, graduations, or special church functions to depend on a charged atmosphere of anticipation to capture our attention.

Evangelistic crusades attract outsiders with the potential for the miraculous.

(Come to the big tent: see God’s man of faith and power! Miracles.  Signs. Wonders.)

Live concerts draw crowds because of the unknown.

(Will they get arrested? Play new songs? Make mistakes?)

Annual business meetings try to build excitement too.

(Celebrate last year’s success!  Get ready for some big new SECRET products!)

Don’t Copy the Wrong Thing:

You can try for years to replicate Arnold Palmer’s particular style, swagger, and swing but that’s going to lead to ultimate failure.  You’re not Arnold Palmer.

In church and business alike, we tend to focus on the finished product.  When we see and hear success incarnate, we want to duplicate it.  (That’s not the problem.)  The trap that snares us, and leads us astray is that we tend to focus on results, rather than the process.  (You’d never try to do this in manufacturing, because it’s obvious that you can’t build anything without the correct raw materials.)

Instead of copying Arnold Palmer’s swing, develop your own technique by doing what he did to create that signature move.  (Don’t waste your time copying something that’s not relevant.)  You don’t have to copy his swing, just find out how many golf balls he practiced hitting each day.  Hit the same number of balls, and soon you’ll find your own swing.

No Reputation:

You can’t replicate anything, based on performance.  (A ‘copy of a copy’ never stays true to the original.)  Unless we duplicate the rehearsals of the masters and practice on our own, we’ll always miss the mark.  With anything that matters, we need to stop worrying about the anticipation of those who enter our circles, and humbly work to inspire them once we’re acquainted.  (Putting in our ‘10,000 hours’ will make us unique and create value.)  Humility is the opposite of having a reputation.

Raise a standard for excellence by paying attention to preparation, caring about details, and digging a foundation.  Staying true to ourselves, we’ll reach others because we care.  (That’s how pivotal circumstances and providential relationships work.)  It doesn’t matter if people have high expectations when we meet them.

It’s more important that people ‘Leave Expecting.’