“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.” - Don Wilder

Have you ever found yourself in a desperate situation where you thought somebody was going to do something only to discover in the end that nobody did anything because everyone thought someone else was going to do something? And what was the excuse? Everyone thought someone else was going to do something, so the job was left undone.

Now, we have all made excuses at one time or the other. We have all tried to explain away our inability or reluctance to perform. And grievous have been the consequences of our failure to do something or do it well.

What then is excuse? By definition it is an explanation offered in defense of some fault or as a reason for not fulfilling an obligation. Someone described it as a poor substitute – a poor substitute for performance. In other words, an excuse is a reason for poor or non-performance.

The truth is, a demand for improvement always provides an opportunity to make excuses. To acquire more wealth, many justify bribery or extortion. To sustain wealth, some evade taxes. Governments blame the degeneration of public utilities on lack of private sector participation. Some bosses blame their non-performance on their subordinates. And the list is simply endless. This is why the Bible states, “The lazy person is full of excuses, saying, “If I go outside, I might meet a lion in the street and be killed!”

Come to think of it, nobody owes you anything but almost everybody will favour your courage at attempting something beneficial to humanity. Even if you genuinely fail in an endeavour, posterity will still ask, “Did you make any attempt to recover?”

It is then obvious that excuses never change anybody’s position for the better! So, I ask you: how many excuses have you given today? You will realize that none of them has improved your status.

Do you know that when Jesus said to certain people, “Follow me,” they had no idea what lay ahead of them. In actual fact, the Master was inviting them to a life of exploits and significance. He wanted them to make a difference, not only in their own families and neighbourhood, but also in their generation and generations yet unborn. But what were their excuses for not immediately obeying the call? One said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Another said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” As good as they thought their excuses were, the Master’s responses to them were, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God” and “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” respectively. In other words, no excuse was good enough.

The benefit of shunning excuses is evident in the lives of disciples like Peter, John, Matthew, James etc. whose feats have transversed all generations, whereas no one knows the names of the two who gave excuses.

So, what is your situation today? You can stop the rot in your life by shunning the pathway of excuses.

Be accountable to yourself. Hold yourself responsible for the highest standards in everything you do. Stop waiting for people to do for you what you can do for yourself. Stop justifying your mistakes or failures. Get up every time you falter and move on. Irrespective of your current state, you can always do better than you are doing.

Woman, you can make a difference.