Do the very best you can - Always.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a true story that my sister-in-law told me several years ago. She had a friend who was an orthopedic surgeon. One day, after an exhausting day of surgeries, he was about to leave to go home when he was paged to report to surgery again. There had been an accident and a sixteen year old girl had an injury that would most likely cause her leg to be amputated. He answered the call and immediately went to work. He could have taken the easiest and quickest route – amputating the leg. But he had a sixteen year old daughter himself and he knew he had to try to save the leg if he could. After the surgery, he again prepared to go home and one of the nurses stopped and asked him, “how is your daughter?” He looked confused so she said, “The girl they brought in that you did surgery on was your daughter. Didn’t anyone tell you?”

You can imagine what was going through his head. “Did I do everything I could? Would I have done anything differently if I had known she was my daughter?” Fortunately he could answer “yes” and “no.”

We can always think of an easier, quicker way to do the things we do. But we don’t always know what could have been if we had gone the extra mile and done it the best we knew how. You have probably heard the story (don’t know if this is true or just a fable told to make a point) about the wealthy man who felt sorry for a home builder who was struggling so he thought he’d help him out by having him build a home. The wealthy man told the builder to spare no expense. But the builder took advantage of him. He submitted receipts for top of the line materials, but substituted inferior quality materials and pocketed the difference (probably justifying his actions by thinking the wealthy man could afford it and he needed money). When the home was completed, the wealthy man handed the builder the keys to the house and said, “The house is yours. Enjoy it.”

I’m sure the builder's heart sank when he thought back on all the shortcuts he’d made. Now that the home was his, he wished he had done it right.

We don’t get “overs” in life. Things are what we make it. Why not make it the very best we can.