“A ready person need never get ready.”
– Oswald Chambers (1874 – 1917), in “My Utmost For His Highest” (April 18th entry)
Yesterday, we opened up the concept of “winging it.”
As Oswald says with his typical, 2 x 4-to-the-noggin simplicity — it ain’t gettin’ ready…it’s being ready.
One day in 1995, as we were about to sign the largest deal I’d ever done at that point of my career, a Texas banker for whom I have a lot of respect said, “Steve, I’m fixin’ to commence to get ready to tell you something…” I replied, “Joe, with all that getting ready, this had better be good!” It was. He was one of the best bankers in a great banking state, and he was always ready, no matter what the market threw his way. Not getting ready. Just ready.
Barry Sanders might be one of the best football players ever. Some sportscasters call him “the greatest improvisational runner in NFL history.” Here are 50 examples of why they say that… Odd thing is, though, he wasn’t improvising. He was ready. A friend of mine coached Sanders’ team when Barry was about ten years old. “To this day you’ll never see a kid work harder at getting better every day, from the time he could pick up a ball,” he said about Sanders.
ESPN and NFL Films’ “The Last Dance” documentary on Michael Jordan‘s last championship season with the Chicago Bulls began Sunday night. Was Jordan the most talented basketball player in history? Some might argue that LeBron, Kobe or Oscar Robertson might have a claim to that label. That said, anyone who played with or against Jordan will tell you that he worked harder in practice than anyone they ever knew. Michael Jordan didn’t have to get ready. He was ready.
Not into sports analogies? Consider Charlie Parker, the great jazz musician. Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams, the comedians. Eminem, the rapper. John Maxwell, Zig Ziglar, John Wooden — coaching legends. Choose the greatest performer in any pursuit and they are long past the point of getting ready. They. Are. Ready.
We don’t have to be world-class to make a difference. We just have to be ready.
Oswald is, of course, referring to being ready in the spiritual sense. That’s job #1, of course. Whether in Faith, work or life, all of our getting ready comes before. Now, it’s time to be ready.
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