Excellence at Workనమూనా

When we do excellent work, we love others in practical ways. All work affects someone else. Whether it is a lesson plan, a product to sell, a process on an assembly line, or an employee handbook, doing work with excellence serves others.

There are plenty of examples of people who worked with all their hearts as working for the Lord and not human masters, and blessed others in the process. But today I want to point us to a lesser-known hero: Boaz. We meet him in Ruth chapter two. Grief-stricken Naomi and her also widowed daughter-in-law Ruth made the long trip from Moab to Bethlehem.

They trusted in a cultural custom to help them survive. Landowners were not to harvest their entire property, so Ruth hoped to glean from the edges of Boaz’s fields. Fortunately for her and Naomi, Boaz worked in such a way that there was grain left behind for them. Here’s the point: if Boaz hadn’t been excellent in his business, there would have been no margin for Ruth and Naomi to benefit from.

Sometimes we think that working with excellence means long hours, sleepless nights, and stretches of time disconnected from our families and friends. While we may have a busy season here or there, truly working with excellence creates margin that benefits us and others. Just as we see in Ruth 2, working with excellence always spills over into the lives of others, whether we are aware of their presence or not.

Take some time to consider and jot down:

• Who benefits when I do my work with excellence?
• Who suffers when I don’t?
• Prayerfully ponder, “God, where do you want to help me create margin?”