“Miss Universe ba ‘to?” I point to the black hole on the one lollo rossa lettuce leaf that was supposed to go into one of the one hundred ten sandwiches going to a corporate account’s order.  I’m referring to the quality standard of excellence we need…

The clock says we have forty minutes more to finish the order with each package beautifully and neatly packed with the right amount of ingredients peeking just so, the right look, no P17.25 price tags on the Lays potato chips, salad is looking luscious and pretty, and definitely no bungi or below par lettuce leaves anywhere near these sandwiches. I find more holy lettuce leaves. (those with holes). How did these get in here?  My dear head cook says she already instructed the person in charge.

“Hindi ‘pwede na’!” (Mediocre won’t do!”) Hindi pwede na ang ‘pwede na’! Our slogan is “Quality is our lifeline.” Do we understand that our survival, our livelihood depends on the quality we put into our products? Each ingredient counts.  We can’t hide the substandard ingredient under the bread.  Each ingredient, each weight, each output is make or break. Didn’t we discuss this before? Oh like for the last few months?

“You can’t be just hands! You need to let your mind think along with those moving hands!” As I’m wanting to give birth to this order that will delight, as I’m expressing that our team needs to be aligned in pursuing excellence in every step, one part of me is having this argument… What matters most? The perfect lettuce or that I be a good testimony of Jesus in what I do?

Quality can’t be sacrificed. It just can’t.  I’ve had this conversation with my employees before. If mediocre quality will do, we would have in the market ovens that explode, watches that have no hands, chairs that won’t hold our weight.

So the struggle begins.  Have you ever experienced this?

Sometimes I think it’s easy to be a Jesus follower when the To Do list consists of

• Read the Word
• Sing praise songs
• Go to, lead, or discuss at a bible study
• Share what Jesus has done

But the only gauge of if I’m a disciple of Jesus is :

Am I loving this employee?  Is this person feeling the love of Jesus through me?  Apparently not.  It’s easier to read the bible than to apply it, that’s for sure.

So I went on a short quest for answers to this recurring struggle…

To be continued…