“O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.”

Staying vigilant and keeping watch over our companies, products, deals, services and reputation can be a full-time job. In today’s world we have things like “Net-Promoter” scores, Yelp, Reputation.com, Klout, etc. that are all trying to keep us vigilant in our pursuits of the best and best thought about.  Staying vigilant is not easy. It takes discipline and commitment. As many of your know, I am a runner (although right now I am not as a I battle with a knee issue) and I marvel in the commitment and dedication of the elite distance runners. One of my childhood running heroes was Frank Shorter (the last American to win the Olympic Marathon Gold Medal – 1972 in Munich). Recently he was interviewed and he had this to say about vigilance, “What my childhood taught me was to be eternally vigilant.  Vigilance involves consistency. I learned the solace or routine.”  To be vigilant is certainly all about consistency and sometimes, as Shorter points out, there isn’t any glamor in a routine, but it is always about the routine that we can find consistency and predictability, both which can lead to improvements in quality and service.

God calls each of us to be vigilant in our journey to know Him better and to work and act in His will. Anytime we are striving for something, it takes vigilance to get there. If not, then it might not be something worth pursuing.  What is great about God is that he gives us all the tools and resources we need so it is just up to us to show that vigilance that moves us forward.  We have His Word.  We have prayer to enter into conversation with Him.  We can listen and feel the Holy Spirit moving in our lives.  We have fellow believers for fellowship.  We have our churches for deeper learning and opportunities to serve.  So, yes, it just comes back on us and our willingness to stay vigilant.

Reference:  Isaiah 62:6 (New Living Translation)