“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoke to you are spirit and life”

There is a long-standing debate over whether the old saying is “E for effort” or “A for effort”.  It is true that at one time many schools did not have an “F”, but instead an “E’ would be the next grade down after “D”.  This is a long standing debate and was even a title of a 1947 movie, “E for Effort” (it was science fiction).  But the adage probably originated before that in the 1930’s and by the 1960’s it became formal. See this about the “U.S. President’s E Award”:

This award is one of the most prestigious export achievement honors conferred on US. companies. Created in 1961 by executive order of President John F. Kennedy, it was designed to give special recognition to those few outstanding companies and individuals who excelled in their effort to increase United States exports. The “E” Award, which stands for Excellence, Expansion, Effort and Exports, has, over the past three decades, come to symbolize the finest in American commerce and stands as a reminder of the ever increasing importance and value of participation in the global marketplace. It was modeled after a World War II method of recognizing production plants for patriotism called “E Pennants.”

So, we can get an “E for effort” and just maybe we should be giving more of them out to our “E-mployees”. Recognizing efforts that are on a positive trajectory to a desired result is just smart leadership and business. Why do so many of us want to ignore these efforts and milestones that are achieved along the way and only wait for recognition until the end?  There is power in recognition and effort is what employees are putting out on their way to the end result, so why not recognize it along the way.

God tells us that no matter how hard we try, there are certain things that human effort cannot accomplish.  Salvation is one of those.  We can’t earn our way to eternal life with God, we can only accept the gift that He has given us and then use that gift each and every day in our lives.  Allowing ourselves to receive, believe and follow is the only effort we need to make.  Today, there will be plenty of human tasks and results that must be toiled over to be achieved.  It is right to do these well and meet the objectives put in front of us in our work.  But, let’s remember that the talents and opportunities that are before us come from God and that we need to reach daily for His Word and Spirit to guide and lead us through each day.  It is then that our efforts can show up for Him and He promises to deliver a life that is full and abundant according to our needs.  What a promise for us to start this week knowing!

Reference: John 6:63 (New Living Translation)