A common mistake made by people is not to dare. Or if we do dare, we tend to be inappropriate. Daring to excel is the stuff of champions and is a daring open to us all. Why shouldn’t we excel? We should, but we tend to be a bit reticent in case others think badly of us. We slave under the impression that we mustn’t stand out, that humility is an important virtue which means I need to withdraw from leading by good example.

I know it can be quite a conundrum which can leave us quite dissatisfied, because we are holding ourselves back. Well, what’s the use of that? The Christian should excel in humility and all the other virtues. So, what is the way to do this without causing attention to ourselves? A tricky question!

Following the path of virtue is meant to lead us more deeply into union with Christ. Any personal glory we perceive can be attributed to Christ, and glory and thanksgiving made to him. If we are to come closer to Christ, then we need to nurture great thoughts about it. But we cannot afford to align our thoughts with personal magnificence. The magnificence belongs to Christ. We do the work and Christ gets the praise. If we want this to happen to us, then Disraeli’s thoughts that we are limited by our greatest thoughts need to be taken seriously. For the sake of salvation and sanctification, our spiritual thoughts need to be superlative as the motivation to achieve high excellence in the pursuit of the virtuous life.

Then we might wonder that because this is so incredibly beyond our capabilities, that we don’t want to set ourselves up for failure and leaving us feeling incapable. Now, we get to the heart of it all. We are incapable in and of ourselves. Who do we turn to? God Almighty. We learn to ask that the Holy Spirit come and write straight with our crooked lines. For the Godhead to overshadow us and to achieve in each one of us what we are not capable to do on our own.

For each of us to excel in virtue, not only do we need to have great thoughts, but we also need to have God on board to bring our efforts to a glorious end. There is a great truth in the achievement of that which is good: that in every good act, God initiates it, God accompanies it, and God crowns it. It is his work! So, our initial fear about excelling in case we have pride is now answered by the humility we need to allow God to bring about great things in us. “And holy is his name.” Nurture divine thoughts, there are none greater!