the perfect isn't the enemy of the good

Since Lent, I’ve been avoiding looking at that section of John that I started memorizing because I knew that I couldn’t do the chapter a week I wished that I could. Avoiding tasks I know I won't be able to accomplish as beautifully as I wish I could has long been a failing of mine.

But God's been teaching me that doing what I ought to do - even if I'm afraid I can't do it well - is right. I'm learning to find my peace in obedience, and not in success.

Memorizing scripture isn't the most important area I'm learning this in, but it's not unimportant either. Even though I can't do as much as I like, it's better to do just a verse a week – or even just read it once a week! – rather than to do nothing at all. The fact that I have not the speed I wish for is no excuse for not moving at all. It is better to do something rather than nothing.

And it’s not that “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. The perfect is the perfect and thank God for that. It’s that the good is better than the nonexistent. And that perfection won’t be reached without effort and that we have to walk before we can run. (Now there’s a truism that actually holds.)

And haven’t I seen that in my writing this year? In fact, I wonder if that’s where I actually, practically (perhaps without actually realizing it) learned this lesson first. I cannot write a novel nearly as fast as I think I should be able to write a novel. But I can write a novel. And I don’t even have to concede that I’m wrong about how fast I should be able to do it. I should be able to write a novel in six months, research and plotting time included. That might well be the perfect (we’ll have to see - I'm getting faster).

But it is better to write a novel slowly than not to write one at all. And it’s only by practice that I’ll get faster. So I’ll keep going. One slogging hour at a time. And be grateful.

Turning towards our tasks instead of away, in the knowledge that God takes our inadequate offerings and makes up the lack: this way lies peace. It's pride to think that we can be perfect on our own. Our job is obedience.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell