What does it mean to be eager?

Why We Do It / Be Eager

first things First

The second core value, Be Eager, must come after the first. We must be humble before we are eager.  We must recognize our strengths before we can pursue them.

what does it mean to be eager?

So, what does it mean to be “eager”, and why is it one of our core values? A few synonyms for the word eager include Enthusiastic, Ready, Willing, and Fervent.

Going back to our first core value, be Humble, we deduced that being humble means recognizing the things we’re good at and recognizing that God has given us the ability to be good at them for a reason.  But the gifts God gives us are raw, and they’re optional.  Each one of us is probably endowed with unique talents we haven’t even discovered yet, and those we have discovered probably haven’t been developed to their full potential yet.

This is where the value of being Eager comes in.  Once we’ve discovered our unique gifts, we must cultivate a spirit of eagerness to develop, train, practice, and pursue those gifts with all that we have.  We should be eager to become the best we can be.  Not for the sake of personal fame, fortune, or vainglory, but for the simple fact that putting in the effort to improve ourselves is the best way to say ‘thank you’ to God for the gifts he’s given us.

I WAS HUNGRY

Starting with servant’s spirit, we should be anticipating the needs of others. But is it enough to anticipate their needs? Should it stop there? Does it help if I know what you need, but I don’t do anything about it?

Jesus said, “I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison, and you visited me.” (Matthew 25:35-36) Notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say, “I was hungry, and you knew about it.” Recognizing a need is only the first 1%, doing something about it is the other 99.  Just as “faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2: 17), so too is a humble recognition of my strengths and weaknesses, without an eager desire to do anything with them, is useless.

the eager architect

At Moment Architects, we are good at what we do.  But being good is not enough.  We refuse to settle, and we refuse to believe we will ever be as good as we can be.  A common theme in our office is that there’s always room for improvement, and a common sentiment is that we’re eager to improve.  We view a weakness as an opportunity, an obstacle as an invitation, and an inconvenience as an adventure.