stuck behind a bus

Today, as I was driving to an early morning meeting, I made the unfortunate mistake of pulling in behind a bus on a residential street. Now if you've ever made this mistake you know my pain. You can't pass it. You can't cut across a side street to get ahead of it, you'll never make it. You're just stuck. As that bus plods along stopping at every corner to retrieve its precious cargo, you are held captive.

Since I was afforded a lengthy opportunity to mindlessly drive down this ever lengthening street, I began to think about that bus. As frustrating as it was for me to plod along, the bus driver likely had a completely different perspective. The bus and more specifically the bus driver was perfectly accomplishing his mission. That bus driver had been tasked with retrieving every middle school student on each of those corners and safely delivering them to the local school. He was accomplishing his mission, albeit slowly, with perfect excellence.

In that moment I was reminded that at those time in my life when I become frustrated with my progress, it's not about the speed. It's about the quality of my work. As slowly as the bus was moving, he was doing exactly what he should have been doing.

Sometimes we become too consumed with progress and forget about the quality of our testimony. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. It's about a life welled lived. It's not about our speed or our flashiness. No one cares about how many babies a hospital delivers, they only care about how many of those babies come out of the hospital and head home with mom and dad.

How's your speed? How's your progress? How's your quality?