Dear John,

Do you ever get frustrated with the noise in our culture? It seems like a 24/7 race to the bottom on social media, in politics, and on the news networks. It seems as if any belief or opinion one person has is attacked and called evil by everyone who doesn’t believe exactly the same way.

I have good news for you! You don’t have to get caught up in this!

“The Highest Standard and the Deepest Grace.”

I was listening to the Daniel Dilemma by Chris Hodges and he used the phrase: “The Highest Standard and the Deepest Grace.” The big question is how do we stand for the truth without compromise (Highest Standard) and show unconditional love to everyone (Deepest Grace).

Let’s look at this from the professional and personal perspectives.

If you own a company, or if you lead a group of people, the worse thing you can do is to have no standards and no grace. If you have no standards, then no one knows what is expected, and if you have no grace, then your people are always in trouble!

As an owner or leader, one of your primary roles is to grow and develop your people. The higher the standard, the more room for growth!

The deeper the grace, the more room for growth!

People are inspired by high standards, and people need grace because no one is perfect.

Now look at your personal life. Do you want to grow as a person in every area of your life? YES! Of course you do. This means you need to set your standards high otherwise you will have no reason to grow. AND you must also give yourself grace because you are going to mess up from time to time. Grace is that forgiveness that allows you to drop the weight that is keeping you from climbing.

What should you do when someone challenges the High Standard you have set? Start by extending to them the Deepest Grace. When you accept them with unconditional love, it doesn’t mean you are comprising your High Standard or approving of their standard. Grace goes a long way to building bridges.

Choose to Win!

Tom