On Excellence

Excellence is always lacking.
Not in the sense that it is unachievable, since excellence in a mostly relative term.
But no one will ever tell you, "nah don't worry about it, we have enough excellence."

Joseph gave us a great example of excellence in action in Genesis 41.
The Pharaoh of Egypt, of whom Joseph has been a prisoner for more than 2 years, has a dream. It freaks him out so he calls all of his officials together to see if any of them can tell him what it means. No one can, but his cup bearer remembers that there's this guy named Joseph in the dungeon.
"I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it." (Pharaoh)
Joseph replies in 41:16, "It is beyond my power to do this, but God can tell you what it means and set you at ease."

So they go over the dream and Joseph interprets it.
"This will happen just as I have described it, for God has revealed to Pharaoh in advance what he is about to do. The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt. But afterward there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land. This famine will be so severe that even the memory of the good years will be erased." [41:28-31]

Cool. Surplus. Famine. Thanks Joseph. Thanks Joseph's God.

but what comes next is cooler.

"Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh's storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities. That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land." [41:33-36]

pharaoh didn't ask for advice.
he had all sorts of royal advice-givers and planners and such who were in charge of telling pharaoh what's what. All Joseph needed to do was mention seven years of surplus and seven years of famine. Then he was free to go back to his dungeon and be sad.
Instead, he followed up on his interpretation. He thought up a good idea on how to deal with the situation, and it was good enough (or God enough) to get him hired up as the chief adviser in charge of everything except for sitting on the throne.

I believe that we are called to exceed expectations and break barriers of "good enough".